


A Hope to Live

by ToxicSpeka



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2019-08-30 04:08:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 28
Words: 57,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16757389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToxicSpeka/pseuds/ToxicSpeka
Summary: The undead roam the empty street in waves, and, running out of places to hide, Sonic and his friends find something, or someone, that might aid in their survival. Too bad he's dead.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Beware, i am a dumbass. I honestly have nothing to say abt this.

He had been at this for a while. He’d found survivors, and secretly followed behind them. They almost never did inventory, and when they did, it wasn’t proper. It was easy to sneak a pudding cup or two and maybe a few cans from them without anyone getting suspicious. Unfortunately, it never satiated him. It kept him sane to eat normal food, but ever since what happened, he’d still been having urges. He was never full, always craving  _ more _ . Had he had an ounce less of self control… who knows what could happen.

  That one day. He had been at a campsite, found it… abandoned. Really, the campers had died there, to what, he didn’t know, but one had no legs and another was impaled. It was easy to kill them off without making much noise, so he sat down to rest his aching feet and mind and have a breakfast. A pot of rice, some eggs of questionable freshness that he fried anyway, and a few potatoes sliced thin and fried in oil he was sure was actually coconut oil, and that was his breakfast for the day. At first, he was just going to save it up as soon as he saw it all, but made it into a small meal as he realized he hadn’t eaten normal food in months, only rations.

  He was worse for wear. His body was riddled, and he was sure if he closed his eyes for more than a second he'd die.

  Then, as he packed up the rest of the plentiful dry food of oats, grits, rice, pasta, and such, he heard a growl and turned around.

  A wolf.

  No wonder the people died so quickly, he thought.

  It was scraggly and thin with matted brown fur, had bloodshot eyes, and thick drool dripping from his maw. Something was clearly wrong with it. He tossed some leftover cooked rice and some of the old scrambled eggs in its direction, and it ducked its head to chow down. As an afterthought that Shadow regrets even to this day, he remembered that his guts were only still in his body due to a bunch of towels tied together. Unbeknownst to him, the wolf had finished his small meal and lunged at the scent of blood, alive or not, and caught Shadow’s arm.

  The hedgehog yelped in fear and pain and tried to shake it off, but it didn’t work. He dropped the ground, reaching blindly behind him as the wolf pinned him to his back and was attempting to shred his arm to pieces. Something found his hand, and he whirled it around and slammed it down onto the beast. It cried, pulled back, and staggered. Shadow had stabbed it with that looked like a broken tent pole, and the wolf collapsed onto his stomach and thrashed, poke sticking partially through its skull and between its shoulder blades.

  At the time, he was too panicked to think or do anything, so Shadow finished packing and left.

  Within a week, when the wound did not heal on its own, he had attempted to stitch it shut himself. The next few days, it still didn’t heal, and was now infected. He disinfected it as best as he could, but pain started to burn there, and he grew tired all the time. His stomach smelled horrid, and he was sure that entire wound was infected now, too. Every breath he took caused his rips to cry out in agony, sure that whatever bone broken in there had healed in the worst way possible.

  He was so worse for wear. No one was left of his team to house him. No one was left, nothing was left, to provide supplies. Anything he found didn't do much, but he couldn't bring himself to give up yet. He was  _ not _ going to die like this, he  _ refused _ to become a shambling corpse that easily. It took more than a hoard to put him down!

  Shadow had spent the last of his days fighting, for no real reason, of course, going on murderous rampages in places that seemed to have a lot of people. Any place that was populated, he would protect with his life, sustaining greater and greater injuries until his body became too weak for him to handle.

  He couldn’t bring himself to eat, he couldn’t bring himself to drink, and with every shelter he found to ask for help turning him down, even after all the help he did, he collapsed inside in old shed and died.

  Just to wake up a few minutes later, absolutely starving.

  He was woken up from his distressed rest at the sound of a scream. Normally, screaming and the zombie apocalypse went hand in hand, but this one was close and he was  _ not _ in the mood for this. Shadow groaned and slowly pulled himself up, standing to take in his surroundings. Apparently, a horde was coming. No big deal. Ever since he realized he could talk to half of these zombies and learned that he was thought of more as an “half-undead” than an actual zombie, he found he hardly cared about anything to deal with them.

  A flash of blue zipped by and Shadow folded back his ears. Who on  _ Earth  _ would draw so much attention to themselves in the middle of a horde??

  Wait. Actually, it was more than one person. Five, really. An echidna, a two-tailed fox, two hedgehogs one pink and one blue, and a terrified little rabbit girl clinging onto the echidna as if her life depended on it.

  ...well...

  A small blue creature, a chao he recognized, was ripped from her grasps and flew up and backwards into the claws of a recently turned zombie, and the rabbit let go of the echidna's arm completely to reach for it.

  “CHEESE!!” She screamed, and the chao was only allowed a small cry for help before nails dug into his stomach and blood sprayed from his mouth.

  It was… horrific.

  He had seen death before many times, but he doubted he'd ever get used to it.

  Seeing such a small creature nearly get ripped to shreds the second it was grabbed was almost too horrible to watch, and he would have turned away had the blue hedgehog not turned and raced back to save it. There was no hope, Shadow knew, and he was sure the others knew too, but it didn't stop him from spinning and slashing down zombies by the bunch. He scooped up the poor creature and cradled it to his chest, trailing right behind the rest of his group as they hurried to a fenced in motel.

  Really, it was depressing. Living as a zombie for the rest of you life already wasn't pleasing, since all his wounds were a gamble on if they healed or not and the never-ending hunger, but the constant death and rot around you never brought happiness, no matter how small.

  Shadow took a breath and huffed it out right afterwards, raising his hand to pinch his nose shut. The spilled blood from the chao was coating a lot of the road ahead, and while he wasn't interested in eating anyone or anything, the scent alone of blood could drive him on a rampage.

  But, he couldn't deny he was curious. While he gave up on finding anyone alive to protect, he couldn't let these idiots die and leave this distraught rabbit after her friend just died before her eyes. This motel could possibly be the worst hideout possible; the doors downstairs had broken locks, the electricity was down, the windows were fragile, the beds and blankets were thin, and the gates could easily be climbed over. He knew, because he broke in one night to sleep! Recently, as well. It was so bad that he ended up sleeping outside, leaned against a tree.

  A repeated thumping noise finally brought his attention back to the motel and he sighed.

  Any of the zombies that decided to go after them simply bumped against the fences and clawed at the metal, but none of them could figure out that they could climb over it.

  Whatever.

  Shadow rolled his eyes and picked up his bookbag, dusting grass and dirt off of it in disgust. He would have used an actual pillow or something, but since he basically looked like a zombie, it probably would make him stand out rather than blend in. He slung his bag over his shoulder, ignored the scent of now drying blood, and decided to spend the rest of his day pushing the horde off.

  “ _ Hey _ ,” he hissed, gathering the attention of a good handful of the creatures. They more or less looked confused on his existence. “ _ There's a strip mall half a mile away, lots of survivors. Get on before I do so myself.” _

  Word began to travel fast, and for good measure, Shadow spun on his heel and began to run in a random direction. No one was smart. There was no strip mall, actually, nothing special existed off towards here. Not like any of them out remember, a vast majority was the older, actually dead zombies. They were all like sheep, following whoever was in front until everyone forgot where they were going and why.

  It didn't take long before Shadow blended into the crowd, and quickly, he ducked off to the side and pressed himself to the wall. Dark fur melded to the dirty bricks and he listened closely. It wasn't as if he was in danger, quite the opposite.

  “ _ Hey, what are you doing here?” _ Came a gurgling spit, and Shadow cringed. There was only one type of being able to speak like that.

  “ _ What _ ?” He hastily replied, turning towards the voice. Oh. Someone who not so recently turned. It was quite upsetting that her only injury was a large bite taken out of her neck and scratches trailing down from her shoulders.

  She took a few steps in, standing clear out from the rest of the crowd. She was a dog, so filthy that her fur was nearly grey. Somehow, she looked familar... “ _ There's word that the horde found a stronghold!”  _ she grinned, showing off yellowed teeth. “ _ Come get it before it's all gone!” _

__ That's… not what he said… “ _ Why aren't you going?” _ he tried to dismiss her, but she only stepped closer.

_ “Are you nervous? _ ”

  Shadow closed his eyes. Did he really have to kill someone now? “ _ No. _ ”

_ “If you haven't eaten anyone, that's fine, too.”  _ she grinned now, and Shadow snarled. That was it! He didn't even care if she was newly turned!

  “ _ Are you going to kill me again?”  _ The dog tilted her head, the missing chunk of her neck beginning to bleed once more. Her eyes looked wide but vacant, now.

__ That made him stop. Shadow swallowed thickly and stood up straight, racking his brain on why should would have said that. He didn't kill her, did he? Oh Chaos, what if he did? There were two days he didn't remember specially, two days from the moment he died to the moment where he regained his humanity… If he did kill anyone, it would have happened during then.

  “ _ I wasn't in the right mind.”  _ he tried to argue, but the horde was thinning now. He had to move soon.

  “ _ And I had a family.” _ her breathing became laboured and her head started to dip, but she remain unaware of her actions. What was happening? “ _ Daughter. Two sons. Hus…band...” _

__ Shadow stared now, eyes towards the ground, throat sore from the painful language between them. Something was happening to her. She was just like him a few seconds ago.

  “ _ Da...ughter...two…”  _ Suddenly, she lashed forward with her arms raised, letting forth a hellish screech that dug into his ears and refused to die. Untapped power burned through his chest and he sidestepped, causing the zombie to whirl around and dig her nails into whatever it could catch.

  And then, she howled in agony, remaining chaos energy within her draining within the split second of contact. She fell with a dull thud, and Shadow hurried off.

  He didn't want to think anything of the moment. He refused to. He refused to acknowledge the heat in his chest-- in fact, Shadow barely even remembered how to use it, it was just a last minute defence at best.

  The motel came into view, still surround to the teeth by wandering undead. None followed anyone, simply going wherever they seemed fit, but that didn't mean they still weren't annoying


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Constant hunger never leaves.

As night came, so awoke Shadow. He had slept on someone's bed, in a house he'd broken into. Everyone inside was either gone or dead, based on the splatters of blood everywhere. But, that didn't matter.

  Shadow heaved himself up and descended the stairs, staring out the open door with a look of annoyance. 

  That was one thing that set him and everything else apart, he still slept.

  It was a major necessity now, as it ran along with his never ending hunger. When he slept, it was finally silent, and he could go longer without eating that way. It wasn't very practical, but honestly how often could you find edible food during these times?

  The motel was walking distance away. He didn't remember why he traveled so far from it, but that didn't matter. He just… needed to make sure that rabbit was fine, and that fox. It was none of his business but somehow felt like it  _ should _ be.

  Just as he neared the locked gates, he belatedly remembered his ‘disguise’ and sat down to fish it from his bookbag.

  A large muffler to cover his nose and mouth;  if he couldn't smell anything, he wouldn't go after anything.

  Bandages for his stomach, arms, and neck; the most vulnerable spots, if he looked like he was protected, chances were that he was.

  And finally, a hunting knife. Mainly for show, but it could do damage if need be.

  As he donned his outfit, his brain wandered. What was his plan, here? It was obvious that he wanted to sneak in, but what then? Sharp pain ripped through his stomach and he coiled in on himself, a low, primal growl escaping his throat in a word only zombies could recognize, and soon, those around him did. It was a mutual agreement.

  Steal food. They came here on purpose, so that meant that the group had food on them or had stocked the motel beforehand. Check up on those kids and steal food. His only two tasks.

  Slowly, Shadow stood and slung his bag back over his shoulder, glancing over his shoulder to watch for anyone possibly looking his way. When no one was, he climbed the fence and silently dropped down on the other side. Zombies were like sheep. If one had seen him climb, it would had attempted so too.

  The dirt was dry and the grass dead. True to his earlier thoughts, the downstairs door was still unlocked.

  Just as he opened the door, he looked down at a certain glint and stepped over it. A tripwire. He followed it with his eyes, trailing up the wall and to the ceiling where he breathed a gasp of silent awe. Some odd contraption hung from the ceiling, and while he wasn't sure what half of it did, he could assume that it was an alarm. In the span of a day, the small group had built an elaborate alarm in case anyone did break in. Or, maybe longer than a day, he wasn't sure.

  Well, luckily he was an agent in his living years, he spotted that wire well before anything happened.

  Shadow continued onwards, almost stepping on another tripwire had he not seen droplets of blood staining the grey carpet. Another hunger pain seared through him, driving him to his knees. His howl this time was louder, uncontrollable, spat behind his muffler as his stomach griped. He remained, wheezing now. He hadn't eaten in a day now, risky with how his body was ever since he died, but he thought he had more time.

  Food. He needed food first. If not, everyone would die thanks to his hands. 

  Shadow sucked in a deep breath and stood. His chest had barely scraped against the wire, and luckily his howl didn't disturb anyone's sleep. Fuck it, he needed smell this time. He yanked off his muffler and headed off. Didn't know this building well, as he'd only been there for about a night, but he did remember that there was a large storage room, a broken freezer actually. If the others were practical, then he'd have  _ something _ to stave off this hunger, even if it wouldn't be fore long.

  As he shoved the heavy metal door open, cold air blasted across him and he shivered. Power? Since when did this place have power? The rest of the lights weren’t working for sure.

  Then, the site before him made the cold non-existent.

  “ _ So much.”  _ he ended up speaking aloud, taking a few steps forward. It wasn't just full of meat, but other things, too. Snacks galore.

  Shadow ripped a bag down, uncaring of its contents as he tore it open and shoved it into his mouth. Starving. Chaos, was he so hungry. He collapsed to his knees, not noticing the freezing cold latching to his legs.

  Mostly dry snacks, but he didn't care. He had water with him, in his bag. Shadow didn't even care if he needed to get more again after this, he was just _so_ _hungry_. They had plenty of food!

  Hell it was so cold. He wrapped his muffler back on and huffed in effort. There were pudding and yogurt cups, too, along with chocolate and candy. He was tempted to eat those, too, but it was far too cold. His teeth were already irritated from the chill already, but surprisingly his jaw didn't ache. Maybe it was a zombie thing.

  Okay, that was enough.

  The hedgehog moved to place his hands under him, actions slowed and body sore. He hissed in pain and anger, forcing himself to stand. His legs barely followed, movements sluggish and stiff as if he suddenly became a robot. Only his chest remained warm, and soon, even it began to chill. Breathing started to fade and dizziness set in. He couldn't move.

  Frozen to the spot, Shadow closed his eyes as he knew they, too, would soon freeze over.

  He realized belatedly why he couldn't move; not because he was in the freezer for too long, but because his body was dead. While his mind remained active, the rest of him was nearly unresponsive. Rigor mortis was setting in.

  Was this how he died, stuck in a freezer? It was so cold that he couldn't feel the cold anymore. Shadow's body was numb, and fingertips and the tips of his ears burned. Nothing could be moved anymore. He held whatever breathe he managed to take in and hoped he could warm up somehow, enough to escape.

  His power quickly came to mind. It burned whenever he attempted to use it, and while he didn't actually remember much about it, he  _ knew _ it warmed his entire body.

  A loud sound echoed as the freezer door opened, and there was a quiet gasp following it. Hands wrapped around his shoulders and chest,  tugging harshly. Shadow barely moved, remaining mostly stiff. Had he been able to feel, he would have responded to the claws tearing across his neck and shoulder, tearing off the bandages there, and the punch delivered to his solid back.

  “Oh god, who are you? Why are you here-- how'd you get in?” came a voice, angry and demanding, and Shadow mentally hissed. English. He wouldn't be able to respond even if he could. “Why is your body  _ so cold _ ?”

  The tone dropped right away, and the other stepped away for a second when he received no answer. Then, his hands touched Shadow's shoulders and pulled once more.

  He was pried from the frosted floor, legs remaining straight beneath him as he was dragged backwards. The other must have been pretty strong, considering how heavy he probably was, but it was clear he was struggling. It began to warm around him, and he was unceremoniously dropped to the floor, the sound from before happening again.

  As his eyelids thawed, he finally opened them, blinking away the watery irritation.

  A blue hedgehog stood above him, looking down at him in a mix of concern and bewilderment. Shadow flicked an ear and sighed, a shiver wracking through his body. 

  “Do you need a cover?”

  This man was odd. Imagine a burglar breaking into your house just to injure himself and you come down to save him, how wild.

  He nodded anyway. Or, at least tried to, humming a form of “yes” as the other got up to fetch it.

  Slowly, he worked on moving again. Fingers slowly came to life once more, and same with his toes inside his shoes. Tail, both ears, wrists, ankles, knees, elbows… by the time he was able to sit up, the blue hedgehog came back, wrapping a warm sheet around his form. He shuddered at the temperature change.

  “I knew someone else lived here before us, but no one would listen. I'm sorry, bud.” he offered a tired smile, and Shadow nodded. His neck felt horrible for some reason. “Uh… so… if you let us live here, I promise to let you have food every night. Deal?”

  “...n...name…” Shadow grunted. He could get singular words fine enough. The other quietly chuckled and held out his hand.

  “Sonic. You?”

  Shadow glared at it, then took it in a firm hold. Sonic didn't flinch, but it was obviously uncomfortable. “Sha...dow…”

  “You don't talk much, do ya?”

  He shook his head. They let go, and Shadow stood. His body felt awful, but he could deal. But, curious, he lifted his hand to feel about his neck. He winced a bit and sharply pulled it back, looking down at his dark, blood-stained glove with disdain. Well, he probably got it when he was freezing. Sonic probably attacked him. Since he couldn't see it or feel it too much without it stinging, he left it be to care for later. He sighed and shut his eyes, allowing himself to continue warming up.

  Sonic followed with a quiet groan. “Hey, uh…” Sonic started, then closed his mouth and looked off and away. Shadow was tempted to get him to talk, but he knew what he was going to say.

  Sonic was clearly intimidated by him. Who wouldn't be? He was dark as night, covered head to toe in scars and bandages, had a knife strapped to his hip, was carved into without a single reaction, and had a very unfriendly face to boot. He probably feared if he even moved wrong he'd be killed.

  His earlier plan was squashed, so, not wanting to overstay his pardon, Shadow dropped the cover from his shoulders and swiftly began to make his exit.

  His disguise worked well, he knew. But, since he froze in such an awful position, he left himself vulnerable. His bookbag was open, and the knife on his waist was less of a threat and more of a show. Had he not thought it start warming himself up, he would have possibly died  _ again _ from hypothermia or something.

  Well, whatever. At least he had a deal. Even though he wasn't the original owner, since the real owner actually died not too long ago, Sonic made a deal to let him have food if he didn't kill them. Fine enough.

  “H-Hey!” Sonic called, next to him in a flash. Shadow hadn't even heard him run. “Don't forget this, it's on the house.”

  A hand on his injured shoulder and Shadow whirled around, grabbing Sonic's wrist in such a tight hold that he felt the other's pulse racing. Right. He forgot about his strength.

  Sonic's eyes dangerously narrowed as he dropped the bag of granola Shadow had been eating earlier from reflexes alone. He huffed, both of them staring at each other. He didn't know if it was out of anger or as a silent warning of the agreement they had just made, but right now he couldn't think straight.

  Sonic was so close.

  So close.

  And his neck… was right there…

  He just ate. He was still hungry, and Sonic was  _ right there _ and he was  _ holding him _ \--

  Shadow snarled and let go, shoving himself away to rush out the door. He didn't care about the granola right now, he just needed…  _ something. _ A run. Yes, that'd work. A run to tire himself out, and why not kill a few zombies while he was at it?

  Or, no, something more productive, like a supply run. Yeah, that was better. He needed more water, anyway.

  As the mysterious hedgehog left, Sonic folded back his ears and stared at the door. He didn't want him coming back. Maybe they could lock it? He was sure Tails could figure something out. Owner or not, there was something wrong with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uwu  
> Slight explaination- zombies, no matter what, are always hungry and never satisfied. Nothing will ever make the hunger go away, and that's what Shadow's complaining abt.  
> Also, when bodies are freezing/cold, rigor mortis can last for days on end


	3. Chapter 3

Blinking frantically, Shadow awoke from a stupor and shook his head violently. The fur on his arms were stiff, but not because of cold this time. His muzzle felt the same as well, and he looked down to see what he had done this time.

  ...nothing special. A corpse laid in front of him, of an older zombie. He hardly paid attention to whatever injuries he caused it, not wanting to look at it for much longer than a second. He glanced around to see more of the same kind, and that he stood in some sort of superstore. Apparently, judging by how much stuff still remained on the shelves, it was too overrun for anyone to get anything.

  Too much blood soaked his form, and as he glanced himself over, noticed that he shed his disguise over time. Or, as he looked at his feet,  _ shred _ his disguise. Well, at least his bookbag was still on. Didn't want to lose that, no matter how blood-soaked it got. It could always be washed.

  “ _ Okay, _ ” Shadow hissed tiredly, scratching at the dried dead blood on his muzzle. “ _ there must be a bathroom here.” _

__ He sloshed his way through corpses and old blood, looking up at the overhanging signs to navigate the large store. There were some other bodies, too. People that had apparently hid out in the store or something similar, all taken out with either a shot to the head or aggressive slashes he knew he couldn't have created. It was disgusting. Just because he was dead didn't mean he was okay with seeing this stuff on the regular.

  Shadow’s shoe slipped and he gripped onto a shelf harshly, barely catching himself from falling. As he looked down to lift his foot, he saw the horrifically mangled corpse of the gunman that had killed the others.

  Nothing was left of it enough to tell what it used to be, now simply rotting with most of its organs laid around its body. Shadow turned away and pinched his nose shut, sprinting away from the scene and into the bathroom. As he expected, there was a stall or two that were bloodied on the walls, and one that was closed and locked, but luckily the rest of the room remained untouched.

  He didn't bother to look at himself before hastily tearing off his gloves and scrubbing at his arms in the sink, grimacing at the dark liquid flowing down the drain. Pleasantly surprised that the place still had running water, but there was also electricity, so it was somewhat expected.

  It also explained why there were so many zombies here, lights attracted them like moths. Especially strong ones, or flashing. He once saw a group of zombies rush towards a car as someone rushed to unlock it, none of them having even paid any attention to the survivor or the car until the lights flashed. He tried to help, knocking them all off so the other could escape, but instead of being grateful, they had the  _ nerve _ to clip him with their car! Had he not passed out from the pain, those zombies would have killed him. Luckily they lost interest and wandered off by the time he came to.

  Red stripes began to finally show once more, and finally Shadow turned to washing his gloves. They were never to turn fully white again, but he figured to keep them for now. They weren't practical when it came to defending himself as his claws were covered, but it at least kept him somewhat sane.

  Then, his muzzle. Shadow closed his eyes as the cool water splashed against his face, rubbing at the stain somewhat aggressively until it came off. Most of it was thin, as if it simply dripped onto his face instead of by an injury…

  Slowly, Shadow looked at the mirror, frowning at his reflection. No matter how much he slept, he always looked tired. His eyes trailed down to his neck and he stared at the wound there. Four claws parting fur and tearing through skin. Each line had began to heal already, sealing up overnight. He touched the mark with uncertainty, feeling an odd feeling bubbling up in his gut.

  At first, he assumed it was another hunger pain, but this time it was in the form of coughing.

  Bitter spittle rushed through his mouth as his throat tingled, and without another thought, he rushed into one of the few remaining clean stalls to hunch over the toilet.

  A heave, and Shadow vomited.

  Tears pricked his tightly shut eyes as he clawed at the seat, large chunks of mystery coming up and out the wrong way.

  “ _ I know that sound.” _ came a voice. It was someone younger, followed by a quick ‘shhh!’

_ “W--What?”  _ Shadow coughed again, a wheeze sharply following before he was sent back into the toilet bowl again.

  “ _ You ate a zombie! _ ” the kid further explained, bothering the older one a bit as they attempted to keep the kid quiet until they realized Shadow had spoken back and understanding them. “ _ I did too, once. I was really hungry and it was right there, so…” _

__ He didn't know what was worst. The fact that if he opened his eyes he would see nothing but dead blood and zombie organs floating beneath him, the fact that a kid was apparently turned as well, or the fact that he was being talked down by a  _ child _ .

_ “How do you-- make it stop? _ ” he spit into the bowl once more, waiting a bit to see if his body was done before flushing. As he did, the kid laughed.

  “ _ It'll just go away! It was real sucky, it hurt bad.” _

_   Just wait!? _ Shadow wiped his eyes clear and backed out, glancing back at the toilet as he walked back to the sink. He washed his mouth thoroughly, ears picking up the sound of someone gasping and the stall door shutting and locking once more.

  “ _ What? _ ” he repeated, looking at the door just to see a lone, fearful eye peeking out at him.

  “ _ You...killed…them…”  _ Was wheezed, in a voice he didn't recognize. Most likely the mother. She couldn't speak very well.

  She was probably referencing his earlier possible rampage, but he didn't care much for that. He was overstaying his welcome and just needed some more supplies.

  “ _ I wasn't in my right mind. _ ” He justified lamely, drying his face off with some paper towels. Whoever last cleaned the place had done a good job, everything was rather convenient. “ _ I'm leaving and won't cause you or your son further harm.” _

  True to his word, he did.

  Of course, after checking to see if he had everything in his bag first. Apparently, his first thought was to attack everyone instead of load up.

  He was tired, still. Maybe he could sleep in the corner come nightfall, pretend to be dead. Then again, knowing some people, if they came in and saw a ‘dead guy’ in the corner, they’d shoot it in the head to make sure. Shadow wasn’t exactly ready to experiment with if he could die or not yet.

  It didn't help that he took out most, if not all, of the threats in here. If word got out that the place was empty, he'd be exposed to survivors for sure. There was also the fact that zombies weren't entirely stupid; if they saw many bodies already, they go the opposite way. Unless he tediously cleared out every disgusting body first, this would be a pretty awful place to sleep.

  Or, he could make a fort to hide in.

  No, that was stupid.

_ Ah _ , he thought, grabbing a few toothbrushes still in their plastic cases as he passed them,  _ so no one thought they were valuable, then _ . He looked for toothpaste too and after a small bit of searching found some, but there were only the small sample tubes. He didn’t care much, he just needed to get the taste of rot out of his mouth. Not that he was actually rotting, he wasn’t, he just hadn’t showered in so long and kept being close to zombies anyway so he was bound to smell like them… not to mention apparently attempting to eat one not to long ago. He shuddered in disgust.

  Shadow managed to not have a single issue with his body save his arm, and stomach...and his chest, but you couldn't see that part anyway.

  His stomach he sewed up after a bit of shoddy patchwork where honestly it was not pretty in the slightest. Somehow, it healed, leaving a rather ugly scar instead of the gaping mess there was before. His chest grew rather sore whenever he did anything strenuous, meaning that he did break a bone only for it to heal, but for the most part is was fine. For his arm, however, it was hardly salvageable and had to have a large chunk of it cut off in order for it to even begin to heal. Which he then ate the chunk. It was a low time for him.

  You couldn't blame him, being undead was hard to adjust to.

  He picked up a pocket knife, too. Longer than expected, but it worked. Slid it into his quills for emergencies only, sure that if he ever lost the one on his hip then he could use the other.

  Almost done with his shopping spree, he picked up a few clothing items as another disguise. Hopefully this one could stay intact for longer than a day.

  After a bit of a stock up on dry food and preserved snacks, not wanting to carry anything that could perish easily again, he headed to the gardening section to search for fast-growing seeds. Hopefully, if he ever found a good place to settle, away from zombies and survivors, he'd be able to plant them and sustain himself.

  As Shadow left, he passed the frozen isle. The overhead lights there had broken, but everything was still cold. The mere sight of the frozen mess almost made him hurl once again.

  He left, finally done with his day. At first it felt odd to leave a store without paying for anything, but he soon adapted. Now, to find his sleeping spot from before, that house he claimed for the night. Even though it was well into the afternoon of… possibly the next day? Time passed oddly when you blackout on the regular. Even though it was late, he still needed a place to put all this stuff, so the house would do. Shadow glanced around for a quick area check, then bounded off.

  He didn't need to carry much, anyway. If he did, he'd settle too fast. Need to keep on his toes, keep running.

  Not from anything particular.

  Shadow would quickly admit that he hated this. He hated his body. If he could leave it, he would in a heartbeat. But, he didn't want to die. That was too… selfish of him. If this… ever ended, if he managed to get to the end, he'd be fine with his body. He'd be the last to die!

  Something flickered in the corner of his eye and he stopped, looking towards it with wide eyes.

  The motel.

  ...and all the lights were on.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pumping out chapters like a well oiled machine!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you think this story is progressing quickly, you would be hella wrong and right and the same time

 Tails grinned up at the ceiling, nearly blinding himself as he stared directly into the light. He dimmed them a second later, holding his arms out wife as if wanting the others to praise him.

  “Congrats, little buddy.” Knuckles grinned, slapping Tails gently on the back. The kit smiled right back at him, twirling his namesakes in excitement.

  “Thanks! I'm not sure how long they'll last today, so we have to use it sparingly, but when the morning comes we'll have enough sunlight to power through the entire day!” he bounced over to Sonic, who didn't seem involved with the excitement. “Do you like it?”

  Sonic nodded even before he turned to look at him. “Yeah, I do! I really like what you did with the lights, too.” he offered a distant smile, looking out the window now. It was harder to see outside, and the sun was setting.

  “See, that's how I know you weren't listening!”

  “Huh?” He finally paid his full attention to the kit, folding back his ears at Tails’ frown.

  “What's up? Normally you aren't so… out of it. Is it Cheese? I know Cream is taking it hard, but we did all we could. You can't blame yourself for it.” He pat his adopted brother's shoulder, and Sonic sighed, sitting next to the window.

  “No… I mean, yeah, I'm still upset about it, but that's not why I'm upset.”

  Knuckles cut it, sitting heavily on the floor. There were plenty of places to sit, but then again, he was just odd like that. “Then why? You've been getting really anxious recently.”

  Sonic's breathing picked up as he stared up at the setting sun. He could hardly see it anymore. He had told Tails about the alarms needing work and had Knuckles make sure the doors could now lock, but he didn't know how Shadow would react to that. They could all protect themselves fine enough, but with Amy and Cream locked away, he wasn't sure how long it'd take them to hold Shadow off before he came for his side of the deal. “I dunno, I think this is just-- getting to me, ya know? I'm-- I'm not… ready to deal with… mean people… and stuff…” he trailed off, not sure where he was going with the statement anymore.

  “...What are you talking about? We dealt with Eggman all the time, what makes anyone being awful to us anything different?” Knuckles sighed, looking at the ground.

  Tails shook his head and stood again, stretching tiredly. “Well, I'm going to wash up and head for bed. Sonic, why don't you check up on Amy and Cream before you sleep?”

  “Need me to come with?” Knuckles asked, and, after receiving a slightly annoyed look from the kit, quickly retracted his statement. Tails could look after himself, he wasn't that young anymore. All he was doing was going down the hall to his own room, so he'd be fine.

  The two remaining lapsed into silence, then Sonic folded back his ears and sagged into his chair. “Knux?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You think…?” he didn't finish, something preventing him from speaking. Knuckles leaned over to pat his knee, rocking his leg side to side in a small act of comfort. Sonic felt his hair raise at the unexpected touch. “You think we'll ever be… safe?”

  “You haven't thought that in a while. What changed?” Knuckles, reluctantly but awkwardly, pulled his hand away from his leg to remove his own gloves. His hands were sore from helping Tails anyway, and he rubbed them to soothe their aching pulse.

  Sonic sucked in a deep breath and held it. His thoughts ran wild for only a split second before he shook his head. “I dunno,” he exhaled “I guess… Cheese’s death mixed with our new move, and some other stuff… it's just got to me.”

  He didn't bring up Shadow. It was too early for that. Who knows, he probably wouldn't come tonight.

  “Sonic,” Knuckles suddenly stood over him, hands clasping the other's shoulders as he stared into his eyes. “We can't lose you to that type of thinking. We all feel bad, and it's fine that you feel bad, too. I-- We'll always be right by your side every single day, so if something is bothering you, we all will handle it.”

  The blue hedgehog had froze, breath picking up for a second as he mentally debated telling him anyway. If he told Knuckles, there would always be a chance that the secret would slip. If he told Tails, the kit would get really precautious, even if there was nothing to worry about. Amy would be protective, especially since Cream was hardly coping with the loss of her best friend and brother, and Cream couldn't handle anymore stress. Not yet, at least.

  “O-okay, thanks…” he whispered, and Knuckles smiled before pulling away. Sonic visibly relaxed. “I'll… I'll tell you when I feel that way, okay?”

  Tails walked into the room calmly, and Knuckles was quick to step further away from Sonic as the kit stormed up to the window. He had yet to speak, instead flicking his ears and staring outside.

  Sonic blinked a bit, glancing at the echidna before getting up to look over Tails’ shoulder.

  Then, he folded back his ears, backing away from the glass and looking at the two. “Uh, so, how long do you think that fence'll hold?”

  Oh, great! Knuckles rushed past and sprinted to the door, grabbing his bat along the way. “Tails, get the support!” he called back, and the kit nodded and flew the opposite way. He almost tripped down the stairs with his quick leaps, but neither cared. Time was of the essence.

  Sonic followed close after Knuckles, both jumping over the tripwire alarm at the front door as they stumbled outside. Okay, maybe too much force on the door. They'd need locks again, now.

  The gate had began to buckle under the pressure of bodies pushing into it, and hands and arms alike reached through to claw at the air. Sonic yanked his makeshift dagger from its shoddy holster, stabbing one of the zombies that had started chewing at the metal. It gurgled an odd noise and crumpled to the ground, quickly becoming compost under the stomping feet of the other zombies.

  “Take off their arms!” Sonic called to Knuckles just as Tails flew out, carrying thick wooden spikes below him.

  Knuckles grinned in his direction and lifted his spiked bat, swinging it down over the arm of another and tearing it clean off. “You got it,” he whispered back, just as the kit landed.

  One ‘zombie’ still stood out from the crowd.

  Shadow huffed, irritated and too stressed to think.

  Ever since he turned half-undead, he never attempted to help anyone exclusively. If anything, it was either to benefit himself or just coincidence. At first, he fully ignored the situation and tried to find the house he slept in yesterday, but something was picking at his brain and he couldn't make it stop.

  It was the thought of that rabbit and the kit. One of his main injuries came from protecting his group, and the urge to continue doing so never left him even when he awoke. While he could only remember one person, his closest friend, he didn't remember her name or the other four people with him. Though, he was sure one of them was a robot.

  He could only vaguely remember that they were safe somewhere, whoever was left. He just wished he knew where...

  Shadow folded back his ears with a snarl, turning tail and stomping up to the motel. Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, he blended in well enough. If he looked up, he could see the red echidna talking to someone on the third floor. Then, he moved, and was out of sight.

  He'd be lying if he said it was easy for him to ignore the urge to tear the fence down right now.

  But, that wasn't what he was going to do. He had another deal, too. While he did have enough food for a few nights if he rationed it correctly, it didn't hurt to get more free food too. It wouldn't take long before other survivors would take over that store he emptied and start selling off everything anyway. So, he had to get them to turn off the lights.

  The only way to get inside was to climb over the fence. Normally, Shadow had no issue climbing over, but being surrounded by zombies slowly ripping the gate off of its support beams, he wouldn't dare do it in case they attempted to follow.

   _“Get away,”_ he hissed, but none of them were in the mood to listen. The lights were too distracting, and lights meant that people were still alive. And, last he checked, survivors were _pretty_ tasty.

  All he had to do was turn the lights off! There must be a source of power somewhere.

  Shadow pushed off from the fence and followed it instead, shoving people away when they got too close and flat out threatening one when it attempted to use him as a climbing surface.

  He could still hear Sonic and his friends fighting, but it was growing distant now. He didn't know if that was a good sign or not.

  Then, as he started to notice, the zombies thinned. On the far east of the building laid panels that clearly had a purpose and had a lot of work done on them, but it was rather obvious that they couldn't have been build in a day. Just how smart were these people? An alarm system, freezer power, and solar panels in just under two days?

  Whatever. He's destroyed these before. Sometime in his previous life; how he wished he could fully remember it.

  Just as he raised his arm, burning energy crackling through his skin, he met eyes with someone.

  A rabbit. The rabbit child from before. She was staring out the filthy window with a look in her eyes, a look that just spelled out hatred. Tears streamed down her face.

  He didn't know if she was looking at him directly or not, as there were still a few zombies stumbling around, but…

  It hurt him. Physically.

  That chao meant a lot so her, he could tell, and it broke his slow-beating heart.

  Shadow closed his eyes and flexed his fingers, listening to a split second of a loud, high pitched electrical whine before there was a quick series of pops as the lights blew out.

  “ _What?”_ was snarled towards him, and he looked up. A zombie had spoken to him, her face distorted beyond belief as her rotting eyeball rolled across her cheek before falling to the ground completely, followed by a curse. Shadow said nothing to that.

  “ _What_?” Shadow hissed, energy still crackling between his fingertips as he grinned at the zombie. “ _Do you want me to test this on you?”_

It frowned and huffed, turning away but continuing to stare. She looked as if she was attempting to figure Shadow out, as he was clearly acting of his own will, like a survivor, but he _really_ didn't smell like one.

  Then, the zombie blinked a bit and meandered off, absolutely forgetting what had just transpired between the two.

  Okay… That was fine. Shadow closed his fist and shut off the flow of chaos energy, looking around for a suitable place to rest before he snuck in for some more food. He'd most likely have to wait for everyone to pass, and wait probably longer until everyone slept, but it didn't matter. He had all the time in the world.

  ...And, maybe if he could muster the strength to speak, tell the idiots to never try lights again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's chaos, babey!  
> Also none of these chapters will be beta read because im dumb and my beta reader is not available


	5. Spapture 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hhhggh samdwhich

  Sonic hovered nervously by the side door, hopping from one foot to the next and staring at the lock. It wasn’t broken, not like the front door, but then again he just didn't know. Could Shadow pick locks? Would Shadow come in from the front or the side like last time? Would he knock if the door was locked? Would he break through the window? Would he not come because of the zombies still around? Would--?

  The door opened, making Sonic flinch backwards and in turn causing Shadow to raise his arm in defence. Sharp claws were somewhat exposed, poking at the glove's fingertips. The gloves themselves looked surprisingly clean, but who had the time to look for new gloves in such a crisis? Sonic chose not to ask.

  “I… didn't expect you to come.” He responded belatedly, offering a rather goofy smile before it quickly dropped. He looked down, staring at the thin wire that he'd stepped on. He forgot that the alarm was still disabled from earlier, else the horrid thing would have kept going off whenever the kit ran back outside. “Um… welcome.”

  “Lights,” Shadow hissed, stepping past the other without a second glance. “No more… li...lies...” He gave up mid word and allowed whatever sound to come to do so, rather annoyed at himself than anything else. If he didn't stutter, he pronounced things wrong, and if he didn't talk slow, he couldn't talk at all!

  “Y-yeah, you saw that, huh?” Sonic sheepishly grinned, letting Shadow pass him without a second thought at first. He didn't  _ seem _ threatening, but then again looks could be deceiving. “Wait, if you saw that, how come you didn't help us out?”

  Shadow blinked slowly, looking over his bandages shoulder with narrowed eyes. Sonic shrink back a step but still fully expected an answer, but the other couldn't give much of one.

  “Did.” the zombie shrugged, opening the freezer door and waltzing in. This time, the lights were half on and it was simply cool, not cold. Apparently he didn't entirely break the electricity system, but he did damage them enough to barely function. Whatever, this was good enough. As long as everything else stayed cool.

  Sonic looked around, then leaned against a cold rack before quickly jumping back off it with a shudder. “A-ah,” he shook his head, then paused. “You… did? What did you do? I didn't see you anywhere.”

  Great, this was getting a bit too far. Thinking quickly, Shadow lifted his new muffler and shoved some pretzels in his mouth, brandishing a knife that was rather bloody between two fingers. He never said it was easy getting back to the door, especially with so many stragglers attempting to form a group again.

  Sonic stared at the blade, remembering his own dagger he never had far from him. He hadn't cleaned it, either.

  “Oh.”

  It was all Sonic had to say, and Shadow had no other words. He simply attempted to not choke on dry pretzels and further explored the freezer. Looks like he could make himself a sandwich if he wanted.

  ...and he  _ did _ want.

  “Are you legit just making a sandwich right here and now,” Sonic huffed, and Shadow eyed him with a smug grin as he placed another lettuce leaf on top before closing the sandwich. The blue hedgehog stared into space ahead in thought, then, rolled his eyes and made one for himself too in defeat.

  “So, why  _ do _ you know that about the lights?” Sonic started back up, as if he was determined to hold a conversation with the zombie, but Shadow merely grunted and looked away.

  Practice, trial and only more trial, harm and revenge, and finally first hand experiences. Everything he learned from those shambling corpses always came with a price he nearly refused to give, but luckily he always walked away having learned a new lesson. Nearly every single scar crossing his body had a vivid story attached to it. Except for some where he was just stupid, but that was for a later date.

  “Oh,” Sonic looked away, spotting the flash hurt in the other's eyes. “Sore subject, huh…? Sorry. We haven't… been in this long, so I just wanted to know.”

  Sonic sniffled and rubbed his nose with his arm, and while it did gross out Shadow, he was quick to mentally remind himself that he probably had the worst hygiene between the two of them. But, that was only because he didn't shower recently.

  By now, if was getting uncomfortably cold, but they could still deal. His arms weren't stiff yet, so he found a nice cozy nook next to the loaves of bread still slightly soft to the touch and sat down, Sonic joining him a second later, sandwich in hand.

  The sandwiches were cold on the teeth and rather annoying on the first or second bites, but eventually it warmed up in their hands and the two shared their late night rations in peace.

 Or, so Shadow had hoped. Sonic paused and pulled the sandwich down to his lap, rocking back and forth as if to warm his probably frozen bottom. “So uh…”

  Shadow would have ripped his ears off if he was sure he could sew them back on. When did he ever stop talking!? 

  “I know I'm like, barely even scratched up compared to you, so does that mean you’ve been fighting for longer?”

  He narrowed his eyes and shrugged as an answer, fully expecting the subject to be dropped, but Sonic continued. He was a total stranger, for chaos sake! Shut up!

  “Have you ever had to protect someone?”

  The question hit him hard and sudden, and Shadow dropped his shoulders some, slightly picking at his sandwich. He felt too… gross to get mustard or mayo to put on it, but the snack itself would do.

  “Yes.” he finally responded. It was true. He had to protect four other people and one robot. Sonic let out an airy chuckle. He looked somewhat proud to have gotten him to speak again, even it was only one word.

  “I figured, even though you don't look the type.” He smiled, taking a few large bites to finish off his food. His smile wasn't friendly, though, and he turned his eyes to look at him but didn't move his head. For some reason, that seemed more creepy. “I’m sure you've seen Tails and Cream, then. The fox and the rabbit. I'd do  _ anything _ to protect them.”

  Why did that feel like a not-so-vague threat towards him?

  He shrugged again. It'd probably be the last thing he'd ever do, and that would only happen if the two set out to kill him or if he went on a rampage from losing his mind. Not like that would happen again, Shadow was rather sick of not knowing what he was doing 100% of the time.

  “Even though you don't talk much, it always looks like you have a million things to say.” Sonic scratched at the frost on the floor, staring ahead at nothing. After a bit, he noticed that the other was scratching a doodle of something. It was too small to make it out.

  “...I see…”  Shadow mumbled and finished his sandwich, aware that it was now far too cold in the freezer. He needed to leave now, and stood up to do so.

  “Going?” Sonic asked quietly, sitting up quickly from his doodle as if he was just now aware that the person he was talking to also had things to do. “Hah, I kinda forgot you weren't with us. You're… okay.”

  “What?” what did that even mean, he's okay? Was Sonic judging him the entire time? He probably said a total of two words to this guy anyway.

  …Plus, he’d never join a group again. Not while he was like this, anyway. You never knew when he would get too hungry.

  “Nothin’, Shadow.” He was waved off and Sonic cleaned up after himself, making sure everything was put back in its rightful place. Had he not known any better, and had their not been a weight in his stomach, Shadow could have guessed that no one had eaten anything.

  It felt weird to be called by his name, too. For a split second he wanted to tell him to refer to him by literally anything else, but it was fine. Not like he'd do this every night, there was enough food in his bag now, and he wanted to eat it before it went stale or moldy.

  Shadow hurried outside and to the side door from before, pausing to glance back to see the blue hedgehog a few feet away. Neither said anything. For a bit, at least. Sonic was shuffling his feet and staring at the floor, and Shadow was inclined to ask, but he simply shook his head and turned away. Can't get too involved, the only thing he needed was the food, and he had plenty of that now.

  Then, Shadow left, closing the door behind him and vaulting over the fence. As he landed on the other side, his ear pricked up and he swiftly turned, looking around him in a hurry.

  Nothing was around. The door was still closed, the zombies from before had fully wandered off, and the motel was quiet.

  ...but, it still didn't sit right with him. Something was up.

  “Son...ic?” Shadow drawled, folding his arms across his chest. “I know...you're...the..re.” it came out as a whisper, and he knew he was done for today. He wished he could speak for longer, or even have anyone alive understand zombie speech. Maybe  _ once _ he wouldn't have to force  himself so much.

  There was no reply, and after a few seconds of waiting, the feeling of being watched suddenly disappeared and he relaxed. “ _ Whatever. _ ” it felt oddly comforting to not have to strain his voice anymore, so, without a second thought, Shadow turned tail and left.

  His… well, it looked as if he'd be there for a while, so his temporary hideout was his go-to until he was sure the horde would clear enough for him to make progress. Even the half-undead didn't want to deal with them all the damn time.

  Meanwhile, Sonic closed the side door behind him and set up the alarms again, dragging his feet as he made his way to his bedroom. Apparently, Shadow was too sharp to let himself be watched, so he called it a night.

  Well, he was satiated with his earlier sandwich, something he, oddly enough, hadn't had in a while. Just because you had a lot of food didn't mean you could always eat it. They had five mouths to feed, and each time Shadow came, he'd eat away what Sonic was permitted in a day. He'd tell him once, but he wasn't sure if the other would care.

  The dude didn't talk a lot, but he couldn't tell why. Really, it just sounded like he had a super scratchy throat, and that speaking was almost a chore. He wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't spoken in a while. Shadow seemed like the type of guy to be mysterious, anyway. And, it didn't help that he constantly had the scent of blood on him. Overall, Shadow was just… someone he couldn't get his mind to wrap around.

  Sonic closed his eyes and laid an arm over them, laying flat on his back on the slightly warmer-than-a-freezer bed and hoping that he could find some sleep tonight.

  But, again, the quiet scratched at him, and Sonic hissed. The sound played loud in the small room and he hung onto it. It didn't help that he picked the room without the window, having been boarded up even though no one could get to it from it being so high up, so not even the moonlight could soothe him. Sonic only rolled his eyes and faced the wall, huddling into himself as he tossed the cover over his entire body in a last ditch effort to sleep.

  If Shadow came tomorrow night, he'd probably ask more questions. But, until then, he'd settle for his restless sleep and sure to come lecture in the morning of ‘sonic we need more supplies and you're the only one who can get them’.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My job has been kicking my ass so hopefully this thing gets updated on the weekends? Yeah, that seems fine. Also i fought this chapter so much to keep it slow, slaughter me elmo street


	6. Chapter Sonic Dies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chsvaua  
> Honestly i had a good time writing it and didnt know how to properly end it so i just cut it off

  Sonic woke soundlessly, opening his eyes and staring into the near bare room. There was hardly a sound, still, other than few muffled hisses coming from outside. That was always expected, though. The dead always wandered aimlessly throught the day; the moment you  _ didn't _ hear them when you woke could probably be the worst experience. 

  He dragged his body into more of a slouch and slowly exhaled, standing up as his body poorly adjusted to existing once again. Everything seemed slow, light, yet heavy and too fast all at the same time, and it hit him so hard that the simple action of standing almost caused him to pass out. Maybe he didn't get enough sleep last night, or maybe he was dehydrated. He didn't drink much of anything yesterday, now that he thought about it.

  As he came to, finally regaining himself, Sonic turned on the stiff carpeting and made his way to the foot of the bed to slide on his socks and shoes. It was a bit early still, he knew, because of how light his slumber was ever since they were first attacked. Not like he could change it, he'd tried everything possible to not feel tired for once. But, it paid to wake early. Less people to question, and less awkward silences from others also not wanting to talk.

  Sonic unlocked the door and dragged his feet down the hall, opening the main door to see if anyone else was awake. Cream was the only one there, but she was cuddled on the couch with… with that  _ thing _ in her lap, tears staining her muzzle fur. She was still asleep, possibly been that way for the last few hours. It hurt his heart to see her like this, but he couldn’t comfort her any further. Unfortunately, this was her way of coping, so he had to support her while she did so.

  He tiptoed to the clipboard on the main table, flipping to the next page to see the new list of supplies. Luckily, Amy always kept it up to date, no matter  _ what _ was used up or eaten. This time, he was mainly getting medicine for sleep, colds, and headaches, some more bandages and first aid supplies, then of course a few more food items including more water. Sonic pulled the sheet from the clip and folded it, stuffing it in his quills as an afterthought. More of a memento, to show where he was going if he… if he managed to not return.

  The statement never got easier to say.

  Sonic shook his head clear, armed himself with his dagger and metal bands around his arms and neck that Knuckles had created himself, and set off. As he left the apartment, he grabbed the almost hiking-type backpack to slide on and stopped right outside the motel. The hedgehog looked up, staring through the gate, and sighing through his nose.

  He had no clue where he was going.

  Their first supply store was raided and full of bandits that sold everything at least five times the normal price, and after a successful mission of stealing from them turned sour when they were caught and nearly hunted down, they were forced to move before the horde caught up.

  Then again, they did pass another store while clambering into the motel. It looked like more of a superstore than anything, but they hadn't paid it much attention. He could try there, what was the worst that could happen?

  Sonic ducked behind a dumpster in the last second, breath picking up as he sourly remembered why he hated supply runs. No one could drive. Actually, maybe Tails could drive, and he and Amy had some experience behind the wheel, but with a lack of cars they could steal that were safe enough and a lack of gas as well, they were more or less stuck on foot. For now, at least.

  When he was sure the zombie had passed, he peeked around the metal frame to glare at the shambling mess nearly falling apart with each step. How disgusting.

  Luckily, with his speed, he didn't need to hide much. Whatever saw him was never fast enough to catch up, but he didn't want to be there if they did and rather not take so many risks. Even though it was going against his nature, taking risks meant death right about now.

  Sonic grinned when he saw the store nearing, then stopped altogether at the absolute lack of noise coming from it. No one was inside, not even the regular zombie groans. That was far scarier than any zombie could be.

  It was also a straight shot, too. There was no way he could get ambushed, there were  _ no _ zombies to even do so.

  Maybe it was a risk worthy of taking…?

  With a few huffs to gather courage, Sonic lowered his head and sprinted, making a beeline for the doors. Nothing came his way, he was scott free!

  The store neared and he eyed the few cars in the parking lot, unsure if he should even try them later on. Most looked destroyed from the inside anyway from what little he could see, but maybe one or two was good enough for Knuckles and the kit to scrape something together.

  Sonic turned his eyes forward and grinned, right at the entrance now, before his eyes flicked up at the lights still on inside. Power.

  Then, it dawned on him

  The doors were automatic.

  Crashing top speed through a glass door was just as fun as it sounded, causing Sonic to momentarily black out from impact and land in a pile of shards, sliding from the fall as his body continued screeching all over from the immense torture of still being alive right now.

  Warmth started to stain his body in random places, from his head to his lap, sticky and quickly cooling as he laid there. All the strength within him was sapped, breathing laboured as Sonic attempted to wrap his mind around sense. Everything was rushing at him at once, and his head swam as his vision faded, and finally, he dropped his head and passed out.

 

  Shadow sighed as he looked down at the blue hedgehog, unsure what emotion he should be feeling. At first it was worry that he had passed, but when he saw him still breathing, that panic subsided and was replaced with simple concern. He had absolutely no clue how Sonic managed to do… whatever he did, but from the looks of it, had crashed head first into a glass door and slid to a stop, blood acting more like a lubricant similar to a sickening slip-and-slide.

  The zombie glanced himself over, uncaring of not having his disguise at this time. From the noise alone, it sounded as if a car had crashed and, not as if he’d admit it out loud, he was somewhat excited to rush out to attempt to…  _ stave _ off some hunger. But, when Sonic was the only thing he found, he was both disappointed and glad.

  Not wanting to waste anymore time and let him bleed out, Shadow scooped him up and hurried out. Luckily, his hideout was close. And, with even more luck, most of the glass simply knocked him out from impact and grazed him more than actually do harm. But…

  Shaking his head, Shadow switched Sonic to one arm as he opened his door and draped the hedgehog on a recently cleared table. Not like he'd ever use it, anyway.

  Most of his cuts could be ignored or simply patched up with a dinosaur bandaid and he could be on his way, but his arms had some pretty serious lacerations and his chest was already forming a bruise. Well, he did owe it to him. 

  He didn't have much in the first aid department, only armed with the unknown knowledge of how to stitch up wounds and basic disinfecting materials, they wasn't much he could do. Stopping the bleeding was the first, and, with paranoia, Shadow scrubbed his hands sparkling clean before going to work.

  No stitches were needed. The wounds were packed with cotton balls, the only other thing he had on hand, soaked in various disinfectants, and wrapped in his remaining bandages. He'd need more soon, but that could wait.

  Now came for the other part, to move Sonic  _ back _ to the store, or to leave him here and have him assume he was… kidnapped, or something.

  “H-hey, Shads,” Sonic coughed, sitting up slowly as fear ebbed into the zombie. “That's the first time I've ever had a nap in a few months.”

   "...Hello," Shadow wheezed, watching him look around, taking in the bloody surroundings with ever widening eyes. "...dirty," He attempted to distract, hurriedly reaching for his bag to at least cover his 'very much signalling that he wasn't alive' scars, but it was far too late.

 

   "...Are... are you...?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the comment, TheInsightfulLlama! It meant a ton to me to see that, and to see you catching on already!. Just because of that, I updated early. Thank you again!

Sonic was frozen, pressed against the far wall and ever pushing himself more into it, as if that would protect him. He felt dried blood rubbing into his fur, but absolutely ignored the bandages on his arms. He eyed the door behind Shadow's head, unsure if he could dash behind him. He wasn't 100% sure if the other was fast or not, but he didn't want to take the chance based on that time he grabbed his wrist.

  “Shadow… you're… you're a zombie?” he finally wheezed, watching the hedgehog nod sadly.

  “Were you going to… to  _ eat _ me!?” his voice rose, but was met with such a stern look from the other that he was sure he got his answer.

  Shadow had  _ originally _ came to, yes, eat whoever crashed into the store, but when he saw a familiar face his instinct to protect overtook any hunger he had. He didn't think about the outcome, though he heavily regretted that.

  “...W...wait, are you understanding me?”

  “Yes.” Shadow responded courtly. He didn't have to lie any further. Oh well. He could easily leave, find another town until he was able to get the rest of his supplies and head off. “Have… been, ever since… met.”

  Sonic stared for a few seconds longer, then shook his head with a distressed laugh. “So that was why you were all covered up? And why you barely spoke?” he asked jokingly, wiping his eyes with his palms, then stopped when he felt skin instead of the usual thin fabric of his worn gloves. His eyes trailed down his arms, over the bandages slightly spotted with blood.

  “Did… did you do this?” Sonic quietly spoke, the gravity of the situation dawning on him. Shadow was no ordinary zombie. Something was… up with him. He didn't know what it was, but...

  Instead of answering, Shadow stepped aside. He'd seen how much Sonic had been looking for the exit, and he wasn't willing to put up a fight. “You can...go.”

  The blue hedgehog hesitated, then, with a passing glance at Shadow, slowly approached the door.

  “...Were you going to kill us?”

  “No.” he didn't break in for that. It could have happened, though, and he had every right to be shaken up. He was just surprised that Sonic didn't attack him. Sonic only took a step closer.

  “Then… what… why did you… do this? You could have killed me. You could have left me. Why did you eat our food? Why didn't you say anything? Why are you so different from the rest of the zombies?” Sonic's voice rose more with each panicked question, and he walked closer when he didn't get an answer right away. “Just what  _ are _ you? What do you want from us? From me?”

  There was a pause, long and unbreaking, as the zombie stared at the floor. He didn't need to answer him anymore, he didn't owe the other anything. Not anymore. Sonic could just leave, he wouldn't stop him. Once he left, Shadow would be on his merry way to whatever place he could find that could house him long enough for this to end, or possibly an empty bunker. He'd already learned that he was more of a threat than anything else. He wasn't exactly needed.

  His hope for protecting Cream and Tails began to dwindle. His hope for helping anyone began to dwindle. How could a zombie help anyone? All he could do was destroy, eat, and convert.

  “...Shadow?”

  Shadow lifted his head at his name, looking at Sonic with a rather shameful expression. But, Sonic stared at him in guarded concern.

  “How did you die?”

  Really? Was this his last question before he left? Fine. He could at least tell him.

  “Blood.” No use straining himself for more words. He wasn't need anymore for that.

  “You bled out?”

  A nod.

  “From what?”

  Shadow gestured to his arm and stomach, where he mainly stressed that the stitches had been there for a reason. After a beat, Sonic looked away. “And… didn't you say you had a group?”

  He didn't exactly say so, but he did. “Yes.”

  “Did you get hurt… trying to protect them?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are they still alive?”

  A vague shrug. Either they did or they didn't, who was he to care? He can't change that now, he didn't even know where they were.

  “... I see.”

  Shadow looked pointedly at the door. Didn't he have to get going?

  “You're… different, aren't you?”

  This time, Sonic didn't wait for an answer and took off, his parting words just a fleeting ‘thank you’ as he ran.

  Shadow folded back his ears with a sigh, feeling a pain building in his stomach. It wasn't from hunger this time. What was supposed to be a calm day in, sleeping away his hunger so he didn’t kill off the rest of his food simply because he thought if he ate more he wouldn’t be constantly starving for at least a few hours, turned into this. A ruined friendship that has just started to bud.

  Shadow turned and closed the door, heading towards the stairs. He noticed his feet were dragging more then normal, then quickly didn't care anymore. He’d leave at night. One last nap.

 

  Sonic hummed a tuneless song to himself as he looked around, trying to get used to all the gore around him. He already knew who caused it, as the disguise he'd seen before laid in shreds around all the store, and most of the bodies that were actual zombies were torn apart and chewed into. It gave him a sense of dread, knowing that he had been speaking with a zombie, eating with a zombie, and had been treated by a zombie. While he was knocked out, too. Who  _ knows _ what Shadow could have done?

  “But, he didn't,” Sonic found himself saying aloud, tossing medicine into his bag. He was glad it was big enough to hold everything. “He didn't do anything, he just helped.”

  His mind wandered back to the second day Shadow had shown up, when Tails fixed the lights. After fighting to put support beams against the fence, there was a whine of electricity exploding and all the zombies up and left, uninterested in them anymore.

  Then, here comes Shadow, making himself a sandwich, brandishing a bloody knife, and telling them not to cut on the lights anymore. All he did was help. Sonic didn't know how or why, but he did.

  He tossed mismatched bottles of water into his bag, unaware if there were actual cases left. He doubted it as he took a large step over another corpse. He didn't want to look for much longer, either. He didn't know how long he'd been out, but he didn't want to worry anyone any further.

  Why did Shadow help? He had no reason to. Maybe it was just to get food? If so, he could have easily killed Sonic after he warmed up on the very first day they met, then steal all he could want and make off with it. But, he didn't. He just left without another word.

  How come Shadow was so different compared to literally every other zombie!? None of this would have been so confusing if he had just attacked him on the first night and had been killed!

  “That's it.” Sonic growled around a candybar he found. It had peanuts in it. He forgot if he even liked peanuts. “I'm gonna see  _ him _ tonight, I gotta figure this out.”

  Then again, who was Sonic if he didn't take risks?

  After successfully stuffing his bag to the brim to where he had to squish a few things for them to fit, Sonic carefully stepped over the glass he trailed inside and sprinted off. It was still the morning, he still had to be somewhat careful, but the path he took was full of hiding spots if he ever needed any.

  Just as the thought came up, Sonic slid to a stop right into an alleyway and pressed against the filthy wall there. It was a smaller group of them this time, taking their sweet time moving on after having entirely seen and heard Sonic crash into the alley. After a full five minutes of sitting in silence, waiting for the zombies to piece together that he wasn't there anymore, Sonic got up and continued his run home, all the while thinking about  _ really _ getting a car.

  Sonic jumped the fence, crashed with a weak cry of ‘damnit, ankles!’ to the ground, and shuffled inside the motel in record time.

  Knuckles greeted him at the door.

  “Yo, we guessed you went to ahead.” the echidna nodded in a greeting and gave him a snack to serve as his breakfast, which Sonic took with gusto. “Don't ever leave without telling anyone, you scared-- us half to death.”

  The little hiccup between ‘scared’ and ‘us’ made him think that Knuckles was about to say something else, but he dropped it with a vague nod of acknowledgement.

  “Sorry ‘bout that, I didn't get much sleep so I figured I'd be useful and go on a supply--”

  “What happened to your _ arms?” _ it came out as a quick hiss, Knuckles rounding in front og the hedgehog to gently lift an arm and expect the bandage. He looked at it in mild wonderment, as the wrapping pattern was off. He couldn't quite put his finger on why, though.

  “Eh, long story,” He dismissed, then, when he saw Amy emerge from the kitchen rubbing her eyes clear as she held a cup of possibly coffee, realized how sketchy that sounded. “But it's nothing bad, they're just cuts.”

  “Did you cut yourself or did you get cut?” Amy asked, then added “Or should we be concerned?” after a beat.

  Sonic swallowed thickly-- man, he needed some water right about now, this snack was nothing but protein and wasn't very good at all-- and finally pulled his arm free of the echidna's studying stare. “No, no, nothing like that Ames. I cut myself, I crashed into some glass and got all cut up.”

  Amy sat on the couch and took a sip, closing her eyes right after. “Get everything?” she seemed tired still. Sonic mentally wondered where Cream and Tails were.

  “Yep.” he didn't continue on that. “How's Cream?”

  The look on Amy's face said it all, only enhanced by the heavy baggage under her eyes. “Same as before. She's in a… state, where she understands what I'm saying, and gets that what she's doing is off putting and can lead to danger, but she just… won't let him go.” she sighed and set her mug down, the heavy clack of it hitting the table sounding far louder than it should. “I mean, I understand where she's coming from, but there's only so long you can hold on.”

  Knuckles added on, saying something or another, but his reply was far from Sonic's mind.

  “How does Cheese react?”

  “What?” both of them turned to him at the sudden question, fully expecting more from him, but when he simply stared with no hint at repeating himself, Amy shrugged awkwardly as she looked away.

  “Um, I don't know…? He's really quiet around her, and doesn't attempt to hurt her or anything, but when anyone else gets close he gets violent. Just like any other zombie, I guess. He probably just remembered that he and Cream were friends.”

  Knuckles crossed his arms. “Half the time he just has a tantrum until Cream does something to him, then he calms back down.” he looked at Sonic, only to realize he was no longer there. “...Uh?”

  “I dunno, Knuckles. Come sit and have a coffee, we have a long day ahead of us.” Amy waved the confused echidna over, lifting her mug in an offer. “I'll make you another.”

 

  Sonic held a short breath as he held up his fist, frozen in place. Thoughts flew through his head a mile a second before he gathered his shreds of courage and finally knocked.

  There was a pause, a quiet shuffle, and finally the door opened to reveal the tiny rabbit.

  Cream looked up at him with dull eyes and a tilted head. “Hello, Sonic.”

  She had dropped the ‘mister’ long ago, but he still wasn't used to it.

  “H-hey, Cream. I didn't mean to bother you, but I just… wanted to ask a few quick questions?”

  She stared for a second longer, then opened the door wider and let him enter. “...Fine,” she sighed. “What did you want to ask?”

  Her room was a mess. Normally, it always stayed clean, and it was even recommend constantly un case they ever needed to move in a hurry and have her protect herself. It took a second look for him to realize that it wasn't actually messy--she had made a burrow for herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blah blah i got work in the morning fjfjsjsisuxbxvdhd


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are well loved and read!

“It's about Cheese--”

  “I'm  _ not _ getting rid of him.” She spoke sternly, voice still as monotone as ever. “Neither am I killing him, leaving him out, or releasing him.”

  Sonic quietly took a seat on the ground. “I wasn't going to say that. I was just asking about him.” Cream stared still, and finally, he caved. “I actually just want information.”

  She looked away, pulling out a covered cage. He already knew what was inside. “That's new.”

  “I know, I know, I sound sketchy for asking, but I really want to know and I know you two are the best person to ask.” Sonic smoothed his quills down, suppressing the urge to apologize. He'd done so thousands of times, ever since Cheese was killed, and after a few tear filled apologies,  she'd accepted them. No need to bother her again with one more.

  “...” Cream lifted the blanket and there laid Cheese, raising his tiny arm to quickly shield his face from the light with a hiss of discomfort. “I'm sorry, Cheese. Sonic just wants a few answers. Is that okay?”

  The chao zombie sat up, staring at Cream for a second before turning to Sonic with a rough glare. It was expected. Sonic tried to not think about how grey his skin was, nor all the stitches that ran across his body. 

  “I get you, little buddy. I don't exactly like myself either.”

  The reaction he got was Cheese looking away and frowning, as if trying to dismiss that statement. Luckily, Sonic continued, but towards Cream first.

  “Does he actually like it in there? It looks… small.”

  Cream's expression brightened for a split second as she nodded. “He does, isn't that right, Cheese?” The chao gave a curt nod and small smile to the rabbit, and she smiled back to him. “I'm not sure why. He gets really anxious when he's out, and snaps more, too. I get when he's in here, he feels safer? Or, maybe since he can't hurt anyone, he feels better.”

  Sonic nodded but didn't add on.

  “Are you just… hungry all the time?” he cut to the chase, and Cheese sighed.

  The chao nodded as his answer. Sonic folded back his ears. “Do you eat normal food, but still feel hungry?”

  “Chao,” a familiar rasp. Sonic felt uneasy. He knew that was ‘yes’, even if he couldn't speak Chao.

  “When you get super hungry, do you kinda… lose yourself?” his voice shook.

  “Are you okay, Sonic?” Cream whispered, genuine concern lacing her voice. At her tone, Sonic sheepishly looked up and rubbed the back of his neck. He took a deep, shuddering breath before answering.

  “Yeah! I'm good--  _ good! _ Just uh… curious. Say, Cheese, last question. Do you… really want to hurt us sometimes?” he shook his his head a bit, continuing before either could speak. “I mean, even if you don't actually want to.”

  Cheese was silent, then, closed his eyes and turned away to face Cream, laying down without an answer. He hadn't answered the last two questions, but he knew the last question was a definite ‘no’.

  Sonic let go of a breath he didn't know he was holding, leaning back on his palms to look at the ceiling in thought as Cream remained quiet.

  Well, they explained some things. That time he caught Shadow in the middle of scarfing down food even though he didn't look as starving as he acted. That time after, when he and Shadow had been standing in front of each other before Shadow snarled at him and ran away. The time… just today, where Shadow had the chance to kill and eat him, but…  _ didn't _ .

  “I have a feeling this isn't just about Cheese,” Cream started, placing the blanket over the resting chao without looking up. “Was it that black hedgehog?”

  “Black hedgehog?” panic rose but Sonic kept it down right away. “What are you talking about?”

  “When Tails fixed the lights and all those zombies came. I was looking out my window and saw a black and red hedgehog looking up at me. Then, he did something weird, and all the lights went out.” She shrugged as if it meant next to nothing. “I don't know what happened after, but he isn't alive anymore, he didn't look like it. He's like Cheese.”

  “Like… Cheese.” Sonic whispered to himself, finally laying back. He stretched his arms above his head and closed his eyes. “Hey, Cream?”

  “I've already forgiven you, Sonic.”

  “...I know. I mean… you…” he didn't know what he was saying anymore and ultimately gave up, closing his eyes with a frustrated growl. “Just… thanks for entertaining my dumb questions.”

  The rabbit stood, setting Cheese on her bed with a small hum. “They aren't dumb. If you're concerned about him, then you're concerned. Nothing more.”

     Sonic would have continued, asking who exactly she meant when she said ‘him’, but he hadn't been called back to the main room just as he opened his mouth.

  He called that he'd be out and hurried along, greeting Tails along the way. The kit didn't look too happy, and didn't greet him back.

  “What's up?”

  Knuckles gave a quiet wave, jabbing his thumb towards Amy as she now stood, anxiously shuffling in place. “You know about how the lights went out?”

  “Yep. Why?”

  “Turns out, that broke like,  _ all _ the power. Except for a few things, we're almost defenceless.” She quickly spoke, turning her eyes to a rather defeated and overworked Tails who was fiddling with something that didn't make much sense to them. “Tails is really behind, we're running out of fuel, and we attracted some attention we gotta watch out for.”

  “And I said, we could bunker down, stay low, and fight when we have to until Tails can get back up to speed.” Knuckles cut in. “We shouldn't rush him! The last time we did, we all almost  _ died  _ or  _ turned _ because of it! Can't we calm down for once?”

  “Calm down!? This is the zombie apocalypse, where literally everyone will turn on each other if given the chance--!”

  “Before get heated for the fifth damn time, can I  _ please _ know who the threat is this time?” Sonic pinched the bridge of his nose with one hand, the other patting Tails’ shaking shoulder in an attempt at comforting him. It didn't work.

  Not wanting to prove Sonic right, Knuckles gnashed his teeth together and huffed. “Who do you think random bandits, strangers, literally no one special.”

  “Yeah, no one special, especially not the same people that chased us out our last shelter. You know, no one serious.” Amy offhandedly commented, then scoffed and headed for the door. She snatched her jacket from the hook on the wall. “Whatever, I'm going to do inventory. Call me whenever anyone decides to take me seriously for once.”

  Sometimes, Sonic  _ really _ doubted these people were his friends. Between Tails panicking to work faster on something that needed patience, Knuckles being stubborn on whether or not to shut everything down and lay low, and Amy having held her literally fifth argument with the echidna this week, he knew everyone was getting to their breaking point. Right now, it seemed like only he and Cream were the normal-ist ones of the group, and Cream was lugging around a dead chao and he was seriously considering befriending a dead hedgehog.

  ‘He'd probably be more fun to talk to, and he can barely  _ talk _ .’ the thought crossed his mind, and exhaled in a short laugh. ‘He'd be a good friend to talk to. He looks like he needed one, anyway…’

  “...’s not like I want to argue.” a voice cut into his thoughts and Sonic blinked, lifting his head from the back of the chair. He didn't remember when he sat down, or when he laid his head back, either. Nor did he notice Tails leaving.

  “What?”

  “I don't want to argue with her, I said. Just, we don't need to up and leave everytime there's a threat. You know what happened last time we just up and ran.” Knuckles looked at the other from the corner of his eye, uncrossing his arms with a rather defeated sigh when the only reply he got was a simple stare.

  “I know, I know, you don't care to hear me whining.”

  At that point, Sonic got up and left. He didn't care to answer, he just wanted the argument to end. He didn't care about what side to be on, he wasn't the greatest with plans either way; everything he did was either improvise or just doing whatever he hastily thought would work. He also didn't care for the rather hurt expression the echidna gave as he shut the door behind him and stepped into the hall.

  Alright. Tails was busy. Amy was cooling down. Cream probably wanted space, and he didn't exactly want to talk to Knuckles right now.

  ...maybe he could make an excuse to go out?

  …Sonic's eyes trailed down his body, then stopped at his arms. The bandages on his arms weren't ready to be removed at all, and it looked as if whatever bleeding there was stopped mere minutes after he was wrapped up. An idea popped into his head and he mentally cheered himself on.

  The bandages in his bag. He had dropped the bag at the door as soon as he came in because he knew he'd go through it later, so hopefully it'd still be there. Just as he ran down the hall, he spotted Amy holding a crate over her shoulder and lugging it into the freezer. He wasn't sure what was in it, possibly the stuff they had yet to unpack, but it was perfect timing. His bag laid, untouched, in the same place he dropped it. A quick dash and he was there and back to his room, digging through the backpack and fishing out the manage packets of gauze and bandages he gathered.

  He didn't have many, or rather,  _ any  _ hiding spaces in his bedroom at all except for between his matress, in his closet, or… maybe in one of his drawers. They were mainly empty, though.

  A quick glance to his bed once more and Sonic grinned, going into his closet and yanking a random t-shirt out of it. He never wore it, and it wasn't his, the perfect combination!

  With the grace of an idiot possibly going to do the worst thing possible, Sonic dumped everything into the shirt, tied it off, threw it onto his bed, and claimed it as one of his pillows.

  Now, for the part he wasn't exactly proud of. He needed to ruin the bandages he already had on to prove that they needed more. Knowing Amy, if he didn't get something, she'd tell him that they could make do with what they had until another opportunity rose, but she needed to know it was an emergency this time.

  Claws hovered just above the fabric, Sonic breathing heavily as he stared down at his hand. The best way to make himself bleed was to open the wound again, but… even he didn't have enough guts to tear it back open after what he felt at the store. So, he did the next best thing, harshly rubbing directly on the bloodiest spots. He bit his lip and hissed through his teeth, pulling his hands away and shaking his arms to get feeling back into them. They itched and burned but were far too sore to touch again, and belatedly he hoped Shadow had removed all the glass from them before he bandages him up.

  Alright, that was a stupid idea, but it worked. There was no way he could keep these on, not with how terrified Knuckles was whenever it came to the possibility of an infection. No one was sure if you turned if you were bit only or if you simply died yet, but either way he didn't want to find out first hand.

  The hedgehog stepped back into the hall, a much smaller bag over his shoulder, and called to Amy as she dragged a rather torn box off to the side.

  “Hey, Ames!”

  “Yes?” She stood, setting her hands on her hips to turn to him. “What's-- Oh chaos, Sonic have you looked at your arms!?”

  Actually, no, he hadn't. Not since he irritated them. Sonic looked down just to shudder, hardly able to stand the sight of how bloody he was. It pooled into his bandages and freely dropped to the ground at his feet, and with a look of pure dread, he trailed it back to his room, where he saw a few of the droplets creating a trail.

  “H-ha, yeah… I forgot… bandages…”

  Amy rushed to him, a stern look on her face as she hurried to expose his arms. Sonic couldn't focus enough to stop her, simply letting his eyes trail upwards until he groaned as cold air met his wounds.

  “...Good,” She whispered despite the gore, and he understood why. She thought he was bit. “I mean, this isn't good at all, but there's  _ no way _ I'll let you go out like this.”

  “I'm the fastest of the group,” he shot back. “I'll be there and back, no problem.”

  “I don't mean that. I mean, you smell like a fresh meat market and I don't want you passing out from blood loss.”

  Sonic took a deep breath. “I won't, I've lost a lot more blood than this and was still able to fight on. And I'm fast enough to outrun anything that could even think about whatever I smell like.”

  Amy stared, having yet to release his hands, then sighed. “Right, fine. I know holding you back is only going to make you go anyway, but still. You're taking someone with you, probably Knuckles or Cream. I still have a ton of inventory left and Tails is too stressed to do anything else.”

  “Really?”

>   “You're not going alone, so pick one.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to Koga and TheInsightfulLlama for leaving comments! They mean so much to me, and inspired me to release a chapter early! (Actually a tad bit late, mainly because i have to work in the morning and fall asleep at like 1:30 every night on the dot) but still! Thank you both!


	9. Chapter Im Going Off Schedule Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the comments and Kudos!

Sonic watched silently as Cream yanked her blade from a zombie's head, then sighed as it crumpled to the ground. The rabbit cleaned the blade on a piece of fabric on her hip before shoving the blade in a sewn holster and checking to see if Cheese was still fine in her book bag.

  “I mean, we really could have ran past it.”

  “It tried to swipe at me.” She spoke seriously. “I… I'm still afraid, all the time, Sonic, but I still have to protect myself.”

  “I gotcha.” Sonic glanced around, pressed against the abandoned car they chose as a rather crappy hiding spot. “Lemme know when you wanna keep going.”

  Cream eyed his wounds without turning her head, fully aware that he was the sole reason why they were being hounded, but merely nodded. She checked to see if her arm and ankle braces were still fine, smiling a bit when she noticed them holding up still. Not a single tooth could break through these puppies! 

  She paused, spotting Sonic's dagger on his hip. Everyone carried one all the time. Tails had a knife made from an old wrench, Knuckles had a normal hunting knife, Amy had a knife that came from a self defence comb she had much practice with, and Cream had a metal pipe that Tails had forged into a blade of sort. It was cool, but she could never say she was proud of owning it.

  She quietly wondered where Sonic got his knife from. “Now is fine.”

  Sonic sprung to his feet, grabbing her wrist along the way and continuing on.

  With the choice between Knuckles and Cream, it was rather easy to guess why he picked Cream. She could always fly away from zombies if needed, was small enough to fit in the tiniest of hiding places, could fend for herself well, and, best of all,  _ didn't ask so many questions _ .

  He wouldn't have been able to leave Knuckles at the store while he searched for Shadow. And, if the echidna saw all the glass he'd left behind and and put two and two together, he would never let him live down the dreaded ‘glass door’ incident.

  It wasn't as if he disliked Knuckles at all, he really liked him actually, just… there was no way to explain that he wanted to befriend a zombie to someone wishing to murder every single one he saw.

  Sonic coughed dryly and slowed significantly, but didn't stop. He was just… dizzy, all of the sudden. Dizzy and tired, and his arms were cold. It was probably the wind against him.

  “Are you okay?” Cream called out for him, and when he glanced back she was obviously not looking at his face.

  “Yep!” he offered a weak thumbs-up and turned his eyes back to the road. When did all these zombies get around? Luckily, they were far enough away.

  The store once again began to come into view, and not waiting for her opinion, Sonic gunned for it. He knew the door was broken anyway, no need to slow down this time. Run right through, drop off Cream, and...

  The ground started looking a bit too close all of the sudden, and Sonic was down and out for the count. He heard Cream yelp and call out a warning, but all Sonic could feel was the asphalt dragging across his cold face and his jelly legs buckling under him.

  Cream shot into action, lifting her ears to fly up and scoop Sonic into her arms to hopefully move them all to safety. When the plan failed almost immediately, she quickly remembered all the times Tails carried Sonic around and hurriedly made the decision that Tails was  _ much _ more powerful than her and should be  _ feared _ .

  Speaking of fear…

  Cream collapsed from effort, glaring down at Sonic just to gasp and freeze.

  He was bleeding  _ far _ more than he should. True, he was already heavily bleeding beforehand, but now a pool of it began to build and there was next to nothing she could do. The heedy stench of blood filled the air even more than it did before, and she spotted a zombie running top speed from the distance and stood to brace herself.

  “Come on, Sonic,” She pleaded, shaking and thumping his arm in an ever growing panic. “Wake up, wake up,  _ wake up _ !”

  There was a frantic noise coming from her bag but she simply kept her free hand on the zipper, aware Cheese could open it from the inside. She had learned earlier, Cheese wasn't ready to be around the smell of blood yet, but he had been fine earlier! All his sudden behaviour did was spell trouble for the two. If Sonic could be smelled from inside a bag, she didn't think they'd last long.

  It was a dark thought to have, and it caused her throat to sting. 

  There was a groan and the rabbit spun, digging her blade into the ear of a zombie and twisting. It collapsed, reaching up to the side of its head with the last bit of its life, but as Cream yanked the blade free it died on the spot.

  “C...Cream?” Sonic wheezed, opening blurry eyes to see the hazy shape of the rabbit moving around frantically. It was cold. So cold. And uncomfortable. Colours slowly melded together, switching slowly from almost neon to deep greys and back again.

  “I can't let you-- sit here,” She slammed her wrist against a child zombie, coming close to vomiting from the horror before her as she kicked at him instead of stabbing. He crumbled under the force and his jaw shattered, falling off and to the ground. “I gotta do something, Sonic!”

  As a last ditch effort, Cream grabbed Sonic's wrist and flapped her ears harshly, shooting up into the sky. With the action, all Sonic could manage was a weak cry of pain.

  The only downside was that Sonic’s wrist was so coated that he slipped free the instant she started flying.

  They weren't far at all. She could make it. She knew. She just had to get Sonic.

  ...but he was holding her back.

  Maybe if they could hide somewhere long enough to get bandages? Maybe, maybe?

  Cream slammed back to the ground and grabbed his leg, attempting to fly again, but it just wasn't happening. She could hear a dog barking close by.

  Tears clouded her vision. Sonic was entirely passed out now, just dead weight, and his breathing was slowing down far too much and he'd already lost way too much blood and  _ he was going to die _ .

  Another zombie fell from her blade and she openly sobbed. “Why didn't you take Knuckles!?” she screamed, not caring how loud she was. There were already a dozen of them circling her. She couldn't care that much about them anymore. She gripped her shirt to tear to shreds, wanting  _ any _ kind of fabric to slow the bleeding. She already lost Cheese, she just couldn't handle another. “AT LEAST HE WOULD BE ABLE TO PROTECT YOU!!”

  At her last word, she lifted her head, staring down the open muzzle of a dog mobian, having reverted back to running on all fours, and she choked out another sob.

  Then, it was gone and replaced with an eviscerated body.

  A black blur circled around the two, cutting down whatever was dumb enough to step forward, snarling in a tone that didn't speak of understandable words.

  Shadow stopped suddenly, body hunched forward as his chest heaved oddly, and eyes blown wide while he stared down at the messes before him.

  Cream stared up at him in shock and awe, but it didn't last long as she snapped his head to her, baring his teeth in a menacing snarl. He would have continued if it wasn't for a tiny blue chao clawing its way from Cream's book bag and grabbing onto his ear, yanking it back and yelling into it.

  “ _ Chao, Chao!”  _ He chanted, blurting utter nonsensical snarls and hisses that didn't even sound like words to the rabbit.

  Shadow screamed in agony and swung at him, giving Cream enough time to stand and grab Sonic's leg once again. She was happy to hear him whine.

  “Mister!” She shouted “I know you're still alive in there, and you want to help! Please, he doesn't have much time, and--”

  Shadow looked at her, and his eyes spoke it all. They were still alive. Not blow and cloudy as they were seconds ago, but actually clear and understanding. He lifted Sonic with ease, ignoring the chao now chewing on the same ear he yelled into, and grabbed Cream's wrist with his free hand.

  And they were off.

  Cream was surprised at how fast he was, and even more surprised at just how many bodies laid in the store. It probably shouldn't have been so shocking, but she wasn't exactly the one to see so many at once.

  When Shadow stopped, he dropped Sonic and tore some blankets down from a display, laying it out for him to rest the nearly gone hedgehog.

  Cream watched curiously as Shadow worked his magic, soaking cotton balls and gauze into some sort of liquid and stuffing them into and/or on his wounds, then wrap them all in a bandages.

  Shadow folded back his ears, turning to Cream only the slightest inch, and croaked “Wa...ter…”

  As the rabbit ran off, Shadow folded back his ears and hissed.

   “ _ Do you understand me?” _

  Sonic's heart was still beating, and he was still breathing, but… you couldn't be too sure.

  Hell, how did this even happen anyway? He'd wrapped many wounds in his time, none of these bandages should have come loose or caused him to bleed like that. He wished he had a razor to cut the fur shorter to see everything, but he didn't need to look for one.

  “Mmmh,” Sonic grunted, scrunching up his face and rolling onto his side. He coughed a couple times, hands twitching as he slowly woke up. “Sh...Shads?”

  “ _ I'm not sure how you’re even alive right now.” _

  “Heh, I wish I knew what you were saying…” he closed his eyes again, then opened them quickly when he saw Cream hand him a bottle of water. She had sat down far from Shadow, legs tensed and one hand planted on the tile firmly in case she had to run.

  “Are you okay, Sonic?” She whispered. “You lost a lot of blood.”

  “Thanks.” Sonic simply glanced at the bottle. It was still too hard to really move his arms, but he'd come around. “Eh, I'm actually not. But, I'm not dying, so that's a plus.”

  “Id...iot.” Shadow snarled, making Cream flinch back as if she was about to stand. “I don't… know why you did… but I know...what…”

  Sonic, used to Shadow's broken speech, grinned sheepishly while Cream watched him in concern.

  “What?”

  “A-anyway! How long do you think Cheese’s gonna chew your ear off?”

  Shadow looked up, reaching up to pull Cheese from his ear. The chao wasn't chewing anymore, he was rather frozen in place. He looked at him in mild confusion, wondering why he didn't look like how he did before. The only thing that was pretty gross was that there was blood around the chao's mouth, probably Shadow's.  _ That _ was unsanitary.

  “ _ Are you okay?” _ He asked, sure the other could understand him, but all Cheese did was blink and fly from his hands.

  “Chao?”

  It wasn't zombie speak. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a bit harder to write fsr, but I still pretty much enjoyed it. I don't have much else to say!  
> Shout out to Raraviel and Alabastor for the new comments


	10. Chapter 10

The chao quickly came out of his trance and began cheering, pumping his tiny arms before swiftly hugging Cream so tightly around her neck that everyone was slightly afraid he'd snap it.

  “Cheese! You’re back!!”

  Shadow watched them in utter bewilderment, wondering exactly just happened there. Of the many times he's attempted to eat other zombies, and the one time where he ate a part of himself, not  _ once  _ had anything happened to him. Maybe it was because the chao was much smaller? No, that didn't make sense, Shadow had barely lost any blood thanks to the other's biting.

  “H-hey Shads, I have a quick question,” Sonic dragged himself into sitting up, just to clutch his head and flop back onto the ground. His head swam heavily and he gagged a few times, holding back from puking across the floor from blood loss. Shadow was quick in handing him the water bottle again, where he finally took a swig.

  “What?” the zombie hissed, now fully ignoring Cream prodding Cheese and asking if he had feeling back in his body.

  “Ugh… I was gonna say, you uh… did ya wanna join us?”

  “Didn't… you ha… hate me, before…?” he lowered his eyes and crossed his arms, continuing in zombie-speak. “ _ You spent a solid thirty minutes questioning my existence and now you  _ **_suddenly_ ** _ want me to join you?” _

   Sonic shook his head with a frown “Hm, no, I didn't hate you. I was terrified of you.” he closed his eyes, quietly wondering why he felt so… safe. He continued even without knowing what Shadow said at the end. “And I know, I know, it sounds super sketchy when I say it, but I promise it's not.”

  “Oh, uh, mister ‘Shads'--” before Cream could continue, Shadow frowned.

  “Sha-dow.” it came out more choked than he wanted it to, and he cringed at the rasp that followed. He had really overdid it earlier.

  “M-mister Shadow,” She waited a beat to see if she would be corrected, still feeling odd for using the ‘mister’ format again. “Do you think we can get back to our shelter?”

  Shadow paused, standing up and crossing his arms once again to regard Cream fully. He nodded with a stern expression. “Promise… ghhet… bachh.”

  At the slurr, he snarled at himself and turned away.

  “Do you just lose the ability to speak after a while?” Sonic questioned, still from the ground, and Shadow sighed.

  “Mmh.” Noises didn't hurt to make.

  Sonic hummed, rolling onto his back to attempt standing that way. Long story short, it still didn't work.

  “Sonic, I really don't think you walk yet from all that blood loss.” Cream set her hand on his chest, followed by Cheese gently cooing to him in concern. “We're have to rest first.”

  “No can do!” He grabbed Shadow's leg and climbed into a sitting position, startling the unsuspecting zombie into letting out a rather odd noise. “I told Amy this'd be a quick trip, if we wait too long they'll assume the worst.”

  ‘Not like that didn't almost happen,’ Cream thought, only sighing and sitting back down. “Then try to stand.”

  Silence stretched for a few uncomfortable seconds as Sonic struggled to stand, every so often going back to square one when his head throbbed painfully or his numb arms just didn't listen to him anymore. Finally, he gave up, glaring at the ground. “Point taken.”

  At that point, Shadow had enough. “Why h-here...?” there was no reason to be. He saw Sonic leave for the store, and later on heard him leave  _ from  _ the store. Unless he forgot something, but he doubted it.

  “Apparently Sonic forgot bandages, one of the main things he came in for.”

  A raspy chuckle followed, making the survivors still and turn to the zombie. They somehow didn't really expect him to be able to laugh, or want to ever laugh.

  “Y'know, I never once heard you laugh before.” Sonic grinned up at him, but Shadow only rolled his eyes.

  “ _ You never once said anything remotely funny. _ ” he spoke, stopping when he saw Cheese whispering in Cream's ear. It felt sketchy.

  “Yeah, you're  _ right _ ! Sonic, have you met Shadow before?” Cream suddenly spoke up, Cheese sitting atop her head as he looked at the two hedgehogs in wonder. “You two talk like you've met before!”

  Not having much to say on the matter, Shadow turned to Sonic for the explanation.

  Then, came the awkward silence again. After stuttering for almost a full minute straight without getting a single sentence out, Sonic gave up. “We… did meet before.” was all he managed, not wanting to share that he had been sharing food with a zombie under their roof for a few days now.

  “Later.” Shadow hissed, shaking his head in disappointment. “Band...age, get?” he asked Cream, and only half sure what he asked of her, the rabbit ran off to retrieve even more bandages.

  “...Stupid.” Shadow finally said, turned towards Sonic only.

  “I know.”

  “No ag--agree.”

  “Hah, how am I not supposed to agree with the truth? What I did was stupid, but I really didn't know if you would be there tonight, and I had some time to think.” Sonic shrugged, then grunted in pain. “Well, not a ton of time. We has just started to become friends, but as soon as I figured out you were a zombie, I freaked for no reason.”

  “Under...stand...able.” Wow that was the worst one yet. Maybe with more practice, and possibly learning how to speak all over again, would help.

  “Pfft. Not really. But… uh, seriously, you aren't planning on eating any of us anytime soon, right?”

  Shadow closed his eyes and shook his head, opening them again to regard Sonic with a serious expression. In fact, his hunger didn't seem like a problem recently. Normally, it'd act up around the scent of blood, or sometimes the sight of a survivor, and sometimes for no reason at all. Around Sonic, and the strong stench of his blood, all he felt was compassion to help.

  ...Maybe he was a bit more alive than he thought.

  “Good. I believe you.”

  Cream came rushing back, holding an armful of so many medical supplies that even Cheese had to carry some. “These enough?”

  “Way more than enough,” Sonic smiled, sliding his bag off to give to the rabbit. She dumped and crammed everything inside, then held it awkwardly. She still had on her bag, which had Cheese's cage inside. She didn't exactly want to part with it yet.

  Shadow gently took it from her and slid it on himself, huffing with confidence.

  “Let's go.” Finally, a full sentence!

  Cream wanted to ask how exactly they were going to get back, but when the zombie kneeled down, quickly understand.

  “Piggie back ride!”

  She was still a child at heart.

  Sonic grimaced. “As much as I'd live to go back to my childhood, Shads, I don't think I have enough strength to hold onto your back.”

  “Who ...said hhoollld...?” with that, Shadow scooped Sonic up into his arms and stood, gesturing with a nod to Cream that they should get going.

  As they neared the door, Cheese coughed a bit harshly. Shadow looked at him, staring silently, while Cream only offered the chao some water to help clear his throat. Somehow, Shadow knew that water wasn't going to fix the chao's issue.

  Shadow took off in a light,  _ light _ jog, carefully watching to see if Cream could keep up. She wasn’t the fastest running, but she could handle herself. As he passed a zombie, there was an odd squishy sound, and he turned to see Cream yanking her blade from it's head. The rabbit looked up at him, then covered her mouth and called a quick ‘sorry!’ as if she offended him.

  “No worry!” he called back. He could not offer a single ounce of any sort of care to zombies that could not speak fluent zombie speak. At that point, they were just shambling corpses. Nothing important.

  Sonic, however, was having a crisis.

  He was being carried by a zombie. A zombie that had a  _ heartbeat _ , for one, and another being the fact that he was  _ warm _ . Shadow was warm, had a heartbeat, and breathed. It was disturbing to know all this and know that under that, he was technically dead.

  It didn't help that Shadow didn't smell like the freshest daisies in the shop. True, Sonic himself probably smelled bad as well, but it was just that Shadow didn't smell like a zombie. He just smelled unwashed. There was no scent of rotting flesh, there was no smell of gross breath, no… real threat seemed to exist.

  He would have said he was comfortable, even, had his head not pound like a drum with each step. Yeah, he wouldn't have been able to get back alive had Shadow not shown up when he did. Speaking of that, how did he know to show up? True, he was out like a light, so all he remembered was falling to the ground, getting shaken by Cream, and hearing her yell about something, then just waking up in the store with Shadow hovering above him while wrapping his arms back up.

  Shadow was helpful.

  Shadow was a helpful, kind zombie. A zombie that could get pretty annoyed and, based off the blood splashed against his body that hadn't been there hours earlier, rather deadly.

  He would be a great addition to the group.

  “Hey Shads?”

  The zombie grunted, sparing a quick look down to him before training his eyes back on the path in front of them. Somehow, he didn't notice that they were going another way, but Cream was all about it anyway.

  “Wanna join us?”

  Shadow skidded to a hault, hissing a harsh ‘ _ no’  _ in his face before setting him down. He'd gain enough feeling in his legs to stand, supported on the nearby wall and Cream of course.

  “Not...again.” Shadow continued, then pointed straight ahead. They were in an alley, facing the far East of the motel. They had taken a side street for some reason, but Sonic hadn't paid attention as to why.

  “Wow, that was… fast.”

  “Yeah!” Cream smiled, patting Shadow on the side twice as the zombie flinched at the contact both times. “We had to avoid these people in cars, so Shadow found another way here.”

  Cream looked both ways, then ran ahead, all while cradling Cheese to her chest. She flew above the fence and turned back to wait for Sonic.

  “...You sure?” he asked, and Shadow sighed.

  “Not again.” he repeated, and Sonic nodded.

  “Can you… still come by every night? I can't abandon a friend like that.” Sonic smiled softly, and Shadow sighed playfully. He didn't have the heart to tell him that they weren't exactly friends.

  “Fine.” With that, Shadow turned and took off, a slight bubbly feeling in his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ended up being a bit long, so I had to cut it some. So, nice. Cheese goes cough cough and Sonic goes dokidoki  
> Even i hate myself for writing 'dokidoki'  
> Warning: there is no ships in this story, just implied "hey, this character 'might' like this one." no one acts on anything.
> 
> "Looks like he has to save the world now or whatever" has got to be my most favourite quote of the year omg fjchsueje


	11. Chapter 11

  Cream was the first in, bounding past the freezer while still holding Cheese to her chest. She didn't ask why he didn't want to fly anymore, or why his breathing was shallow. She'd just got him back, and she didn't want to stress him out further. He was probably exhausted and starving! She raced to the main room first to make a lunch for him alone.

  Sonic lagged behind, wheezing from effort and nursing the same bottle of water Shadow had given him from before. Even the bag now on his shoulders felt heavy, and all that was in it was light packages. He’d lost tons of blood before, but it was never  _ this _ bad. His headache wasn't close to leaving, his legs still felt like electrocuted jello, and he and his arms had yet to speak to each other. Man, did he overdo it. Maybe it was really time to rest, get some food in his belly, try to regain himself.

  There was a surprised gasp coming from the main room, so he figured to visit there in hopes of a quick lunch already been prepared.

  Just to see Tails and Amy hugging and talking to Cheese in utter disbelief. Amy quickly passed him to Knuckles, who greeted the tired-looking chao with a loving pat on the head. “There's our little buddy.”

  “How did he suddenly get better?” Amy asked, taking the chao back to hug over her shoulder. Cheese coughed again, blocking his mouth politely and ignoring the red stain that spilled onto his hand. It was probably some of Shadow's blood from before, yeah.

  Cream, however, was quietly getting an earful from an observant Tails as he constantly asked if she had gotten hurt, where she calmly told him that she had to kill a few zombies along the way, making sure to not add the fact that Sonic almost bled to death out there.

  “We aren't actually sure,” Sonic groaned, staring into his bowl of granola with spinning vision. “We kinda just turned around and he was better.”

  He ignored Knuckles’ look of pure worry to watch Amy give him a questioning stare.

  “...is he okay?”

  Tails voice came from behind her, and at the question, Cheese coughed again. It was harsh, wet, followed by clots of blood as he pushed off Amy's shoulder and fell to the ground, where Cream caught him in the nick of time. A bowl of sweet oatmeal clattered to the ground.

  “Cheese?”

  “ _ Chao,” _ he cried out, curling onto his side as he went into another coughing fit. Tears trailed from his eyes as his breathing stopped completely, and the chao slowly fell limp.

  Cream's eyes widened, bringing the chao back up to her chest. She hurried to press on his chest, attempting CPR, but she knew it wasn't going to work. The chao went completely limp by then, heart not beating, blood not pumping, lungs not expanding.

  “Cheese, no no, I just got you  _ back _ …” the rabbit chanted, freely letting herself cry as the skin of her friend began to fade back to the colour she had started to accept as the dead chao.

  He didn't move.

  Everyone else silently watched on, unsure what to do or say to help.

  Then, there was a raspy groan, and Cheese turned on his side suddenly and threw up a small mouthful of something inky black. He wheezed in effort, looking at Cream in pure sadness.

  The rabbit scooped him up once more, watching him carefully, but all the chao did was climb over her shoulder and into her bag, where she assumed he climbed into his cage again.

  “Oh, Cream…” Tails sighed, kneeling next to his friend to hug her. “I'm really sorry that happened to him. Maybe it was his chao powers that turned him back? If we--”

  “Not now, Tails.” She scrubbed tears from her dull eyes, standing up and marching back to her room. She dragged her bag for only a few steps, pulling it back up to hug it tightly. “I don't want to hear any of that.”

  Tense silence filled the room as Tails looked to Amy, unsure who should comfort her this time. Knuckles looked to Sonic, just to spring up in shock and rush over to the hedgehog.

  Sonic had passed out again, face first in his granola, body pale and unmoving.

  “Sonic! Get the hell up, don't die on us!” Knuckles chanted, grabbing a fistful of quills and tugging until he lifted his head. “Breathe, damn it!”

  At the command, Sonic hissed in a lungful of air, then let it go right away to growl in pain. “What the hell, Knuckles?” he didn't have the strength to push him off, merely offer a weak glare. His eyes resembled merely painted rocks instead of the normal vibrant green. “I'm  _ not _ dying, I already told you all that.”

  Knuckles slowly let go, taken aback somewhat, and let Sonic pass out in his granola again. 

  Tails made a noise of distress at Sonic's state, but he didn't say anything about it and simply pat his brother's back before silently leaving to finish his project. He couldn't waste much time anymore.

  Amy folded back her ears, looking at the bag on Sonic's left and took it from the counter.

  “I'll… Actually, Knuckles, can you put these up? I think it's time I make some dinner.”

  “Isn't it a bit early for--...?” The echidna cut himself off with a hum of understanding. They might not have known what had gone on out there, but nothing seemed to have gone entirely right.

  “Hey, when you're done being passed out over there, how about you wash up some? You're covered in blood.” Knuckles nudged Sonic’s hip, a and after a second, he grimaced.

  “...No thanks.”

  “Really, I'm sure a shower is… mandatory at this point. You smell like a meat factory, and meat plus zombies equals death.”

  Sonic was quiet. For so long that the two began to get worried again, before he sat up and promptly threw up into his now empty bowl-- as he had been apparently still eating while laying face down, leaned back, and barely managed to stumble to his feet and wander down the hall.

  As he passed the window, he narrowed his eye at the low hanging sun. It was only the afternoon. The day was passing by far too slow.

  The ‘shower’ in question was actually just a extremely long red hose with out a proper nozzle outside, connected to the underground plumbing. There was a 50/50 chance you either got freezing cold water or water that was barely warm enough to feel above body temperature, and Sonic was always  _ super _ lucky to get freezing cold nine times out of ten.

  It was even better that it was simply behind a gate and nothing else. If anyone rounded the back of the building, they'd see him. Not like it was much of an issue for him, but it was always a worry when it came to the girls.

  He mentally debated taking his bandages off, but overall decided to just take a partial shower. The less time under, the better. Sonic lifted the hose up and stuffed it into a crevice he'd found a while back, kicked off his shoes and removed his gloves, and turned the water on.

  It came down in a hardly felt torrent, blasting against his stomach as he cupped his hands unter the stream. Rare that it was this warm, it must be his lucky day.

  Sonic closed his eyes and splashed water on himself, scrubbing his mouth of the awful taste of today's granola and last night's mostly digested sandwich. Then, came his quills for a few seconds, then he turned and let the pressure from the water alone wash the blood from his back. Then, a quick once over for his legs, and that was  _ it _ .

  It was all he could stand, too. The water started getting cold about two minutes ago, and he lost most of his strength to continue standing about  _ four _ minutes ago when he flat out started the shower, so all that was done with.

  As he cut off the water and watched the hose trickle, his mind went back to Cheese. He really thought he was fine, what happened? What was worse was that he honestly didn't know what made him better in the first place. All he knew what that he was chewing Shadow's ear, then Shadow pulled him away, and he was suddenly cured.

  Was it his touch? Or maybe… his  _ taste _ ??

  Nah. That was dumb. Maybe he'd ask Shadow. For now, he needed to sleep, food was far from his mind.

  Well, maybe he should check up on Cream, too. He wasn't 100% awake when Cheese reverted, but from what he heard, it was rather painful. He just… secretly hoped it didn't happen to him.

  Sonic honestly felt like he was going to die. But, he refused. He would not die, all this was, was blood loss. No one dies from blood loss! Even in horror movies, characters could lose a couple gallons of blood and be totally fine!

  ...except for Shadow. He died from blood loss.

  “Well, he was more hurt than me. I’m hunky dory! Totally fine.” he didn't question why he suddenly used the phrase ‘hunky dory,’ as he'd  _ never _ said it before, and continued. “Cream, food, nap. In that order!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im in a pretty bad shape, guys. Chapters will slow down because of it, but LSS, I'm just,,, so low on money, high on depression, and overloaded with stress. But, I'll keep on truckin'! Hopefully some more commissions come in, and the 13th comes fast. Aaaaa  
> See you guys! Love uuuu


	12. Chapter im baaaack (12)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya, I'm back! Sorry for such a wait, lots of stuff happened. Uh, don't want to bore you with my life, so... enjoy!

With the strength of a hedgehog essentially on the brink of death, Sonic slid his dirty shoes and filthy gloves on and stumbled back into the motel. He clutched the wall, staring straight ahead in fear of falling out once more, but luckily he did feel better. Somehow. Maybe it was the shower? It wasn't exactly the best shower, it was more like hoe bath. Just the essentials, and a quick blast to rinse off the blood. In fact, he still smelled pretty bad, but he didn't exactly bring any soap with him, or toothpaste or a toothbrush. Or anything, really.

  Sonic shook his head clear and yawned, wondering if it was perfectly reasonable to just sleep the rest of the day. Probably tell Amy and Knuckles that he felt sick, take a rain check. Call up Shadow somehow and tell him to come tomorrow instead.

  But, that was wrong. He still had to check in on Cream and eat dinner, so sleep would have to wait.

  Cream's door was cracked, which was… shocking. Normally it'd be shut tight and barricaded from the inside, why he wasn't sure, or just shut normally when she wasn't in. He didn't exactly question her, since he was sure he'd get an answer he didn't like.

  But, to be polite, he still knocked. The door creaked open a bit at the force but Sonic still didn't peek in, anxiety building up in the back of his throat at the lack of noise he heard. Maybe she had fallen asleep? Probably.  _ Hopefully. _

  “Cream?” It was obvious she wasn't going to answer anytime soon, so he finally peeked around the door to see said rabbit kneeling on the ground, unmoving. Panic finally won over and he rushed inside, stepping to the side of the rabbit and grabbing her shoulders roughly.

  Then, Cream moved, lifting her head slightly to turn to him. Her eyes were filled with tears yet unshed, cheeks stained with streaks of white. In front of her sat Cheese, silent and staring at the ground. Drawings littered the floor around them, but he paid them no mind.

  “Cream, why didn't you say anything!?” Sonic spoke louder than he expected, leaning back onto his heels to properly sit on the ground with a sigh of relief. “I was worried there!”

  When she didn't reply again, Sonic folded back his ears and looked at her again, just to freeze up.

  Her arms were bare of their protective bands and littered in scratches, tiny pock marks and pin sized droplets of blood marking some of the edges. In her hand was her blade, unsheathed and covered in a fine cream-coloured handful of fuzz.

  “Do I have to take that from you?” His tone dropped, already reaching for the knife when she didn't respond right away.

  “I couldn't understand him.”

  The statement made no sense at first, so he simply continued with his action. Luckily, she let the handle go with the first grab and he carefully pulled it away from her.

  “Couldn't understand who?”

  Another pause, the dead air filled with the tiny, quiet sobs of Cream gathering her words mentally. He was prepared to wait all day for the answer if need be, she was far too vulnerable to rush.

  “C...Cheese. I couldn't understand Cheese. I-I… I thought that… if I was like Shadow…”

  Everything suddenly fell into place. The drawings, all of them were drawn differently than Cream's normal style. They were more sloppy, childish, and all were around the same thing: Zombie Cheese biting Shadow, and Cheese suddenly becoming normal. Cream had been trying to get the answer out of him for a while, and when that didn't work…

  “That…” He had nothing to say, really. His voice shook with emotion. “Cream…”

  The rabbit’s sobbing suddenly increased tenfold as she turned and clutched onto Sonic as if her life depended on it, crying into his chest all whilst shouting that ‘it hurt so much’ and that she ‘just wanted him to be happy again.’

  “I'm so sorry,” She wailed, voice muffled from Sonic's dirty fur. He only pressed her gently into his chest, rocking back and forth. “I'm so sorry,”

  “It's okay. Just promise that you won't try that again, okay? Never again. Talk to one of us if you ever feel like trying that again.”

  Cream sucked in a deep breath, scrubbing her eyes clear with the back of her hands. “O-okay,” she pulled one hand away, staring at Sonic with blurry vision and an uncertain expression. “Okay, I will.”

  “Promise.” he repeated, looking at her squarely. She nodded without a word.

  Sonic opened his mouth to speak, but stopped once their names were called for dinner. He debated ignoring it but ultimately decided to let her rest and gather herself once again. She was too emotional right now.

  “We'll talk again later, okay? Let's eat dinner first and then we'll talk in the morning.” Sonic said instead, letting his arm drop so he was simply holding her hand. His other hand shoved her blade into the same holster as his other knife, uncaring if the metal got scratched. Cream stared at Cheese, the chao looking up at her with teary eyes.

  “Y-yes… dinner.”

  Sonic stood, holding her hand still as he lead her out to the main room. He couldn't think of anything else to say, but he wish he did. But, she said she would talk tomorrow, and tomorrow she  _ would _ talk. Or, at least listen. She held Cheese in her free hand, and Sonic swallowed thickly. He was unsure when she had bent to collect him up again, but it just reminded him of the fact that they were never far apart. He'd be lying if he said he didn't feel sorry for the chao; dying, getting cured, all just to die all over again without knowing how to get the cure or where it came from.

  “Can I get…?” Cream didn't finish, and for good reason. Sonic wasn't going to give it back even if a zombie was right behind her, he'd kill it first with nothing but his bare hands if he so had to if that meant she was safe. She wasn't ready to get he blade back, not yet at least.

  At the table, Sonic was greeted with the site of Tails shoving spaghetti onto a plate and eating off of it as he briskly walked away. His gloves and hands looked burned, most of the fur black in some parts and missing in patches. His arms were coated in soot, along with some of his muzzle. It looked like it was quickly brushed off seconds before he grabbed his plate.

  “Hey bud!” Sonic quickly greeted the fox's retreating form, waving as Tails mumbled a quick greeting while quickly closing the door behind him. He could almost understand that as ‘Almost done with security!’

  He didn't notice Cream doing the same until he saw her out the corner of his eye, hearing the slight squeak of the door a split second later. He quickly felt his holster just to relax when he felt two handles this time.

  “I rather eat in my room,” she called over her shoulder, making Sonic quietly frown in thought.

  All that left him with was Knuckles and Amy, who silently sat at the table, both looking a bit more depressed than usual.

  “I see everyone has the downers,” he huffed, sitting a bit harshly at the table. The hard woon of the chair hurt his backside some, but he held back a wince. To be nice, Sonic only made himself a small bowl of pasta. “Anything happen when I was outside?”

  “Tails electrocuted himself.”

  The sudden statement caught Sonic off guard, accidentally spilling his bowl onto the table with a flinch. He looked up at Knuckles, who flat out ignored Amy's glare.

  “He  _ what? _ He looked somewhat fine a second ago! Was that what those burns were?” he gasped, and Amy sighed.

  “You're making it sound like he did it on purpose.”

  “I'm making it sound like if he didn't need to  _ rush _ everything he probably wouldn't have elec--”

  Sonic sighed, groaned really, loud enough that he drowned out their oncoming argument. “Woww is that really all you two know how to do now? Just argue all the time?” he snapped, making both Knuckles and Amy glare at him as if  _ he _ was in the wrong. He rolled his eyes and continued.

  “Anyway, what even is our defence gonna be if Tails nearly ki… hurt himself over it?” Cream flashed in his mind and he cringed, stabbing at his plate a little roughly before shoving a forkful of pasta into his mouth. He didn't want to think of what could have happened had he not chose to check up on her.

  The other two were quiet for a bit, before Amy finally spoke up, scraping her fork against the plate in a rather annoying way. She stopped immediately. “An Electric Fence, sorta. It's powered by a chaos emerald instead of by solar, because we don't trust the panels anymore ever since they blew up.”

  “You mean the one emerald we managed to find?” Sonic whispered, but it either went unnoticed or ignored. Knuckles had yet to speak.

  “It's supposed to stun or kill anything that touches it. If you're alive, it knocks you out. If you're dead, it fries your brain. Cool, right? I'm not sure how it works, though.” Amy waved her fork in the air, looking up in thought. “There's also an extension of the alarms that's make them go off in our bedrooms in case we don't hear the one downstairs, a lock for the freezer, and restoring full power for the freezer. Hopefully the code gets put up tomorrow.”

  Sonic was quiet, nodding along, then repeated himself from earlier. She only frowned, showing that she did hear him, in fact, but just chose to ignore him.

  “Because we want to actually kill zombie, not send them off to just come back later on! Plus, when we use electricity, it would take a while for such a big gate to get back to full strength.” She huffed, making Knuckles sigh.

  “Finally, something we damn agree on.”

  “Hmph.”

  After another pause, Sonic took a long swig of his water and silently wished it was alcohol. It was a rare though, as he hated the taste of the stuff, but man did his arms hurt something fierce and his head pounded with a purpose.

  “Do you think all that's going to be done by the time you suspect those guys to be on our tails?” Knickles grunted, now at the stage of irritation where he was simply moving his food around on the plate. He was basically done with it anyway, but couldn't bring himself to finish.

  “...The fence is being tested tonight. Everything else has barely been started.” Amy had finished her plate by now and stood to wash it, leaving the two boys at the table in silence.

  Sonic stared at his plate, head swimming but not in a good way. He wasn't sick, but felt the urge to vomit up everything he just ate. He had no reason to, he just felt… sick.

  Then, it suddenly dawned on him. Shadow was visiting tonight, he promised. If he touched the fence now to climb over, then he'd… he'd be  _ gone _ .

  He really didn't want to waste this food. He could put it in the fridge, but they didn't have a microwave yet. At least, not one he was comfortable with using, as their current one made half the things you put in it taste like metal and radiation.

  Sonic scooped some onto a fork and sniffed it. Still warm. Smelled fine. Plain, but fine. He stuck it in his mouth, chewed once, and gagged. If felt like something was coating his mouth and tongue, greasey, thick, and tangy. No, not tangy. Metallic. He grew dizzy, cutting his losses and swallowing the barely chewed noodles. Then, he hunched forward, and suddenly stood up and tilted his head up straight and swallowed down the urge to throw up.

  “Okay, that's enough,” Knuckles’ voice brought him back to reality, looking over to see the echidna supporting him. He didn't notice when he even stood up. “Are you feeling okay? Are you still bleeding anywhere? Is any of your cuts infec--?”

  “Fine,” Sonic coughed, feeling his mouth start to water. He really didn't want to throw up again, he better just lay down and sleep it off. “‘M fine, Knux, I just… gotta sleep.”

  With a quick word of asking knuckles to put his food in the fridge, Sonic hobbled to his room before laying on the bed and groaning in pain.

  Something sharp dug into his hip, and at first he didn't care too much to move it, but after a second where he realized that what was sticking into him was far too sharp to be able to sleep on, he reached under him to yank it off. It was his holster, still stuffed to the brim with his and Cream's knife. He was silently glad the fake leather held up, else he'd probably have stabbed himself by then.

   But, sleep never came easy to him, did it?


	13. Chapter 13

The only word he could use right now to describe himself was pitiful. He was currently laid on top of his thin motel-provided blanket and had his head pushed into the not-at-all soft material of the gauze he hid in a pillowcase, still in all of its packaging mind you. It wasn't very long before he got sick of the plastic digging into his face and shoved the horrible pillow to the side, making it fall between the bed and the wall. It fell with a messy sounding crumple and Sonic sighed, laying on his actually comfortable pillow. That still wasn't saying much, however, but it was better than nothing.

  He closed his eyes, the coldness of the air around him stilling. Silently, he wondered about the general state of things. Recently, he's been having less and less time to think of be by himself. He wasn't sure if that was his fault or not, but he knew it was mainly because of all the zombies shambling around.

  Minus Shadow and Cheese, those two he liked.

  ...speaking of, were there more zombies like them? He hoped, somewhat. The only things that set them off from normal mobians was the inability to speak proper sentences for long, and the never ending hunger from what he gathered from Cheese. Nothing they couldn't already handle!

  Shadow would make an excellent addition to their team! He was strong, smart,  _ actually _ knew things about zombies rather than just guessing along the way, and he could  _ communicate! _ Well, not much, but it was better than nothing. 

  Wait, no, he was supposed to be asleep now. No more thinking, time to sleep.

  …

  Silence stretched for a few moments before Sonic attempted to sit up, only to find that he couldn't move. He was laid on his stomach, arms folded over his pillow and head laid on top of them, none of that said that he wouldn't be able to move.

  As an attempt, he tried to open his eyes and found that he could, just to quickly realize what was going on. Sleep paralysis. Really? Like he didn't have enough problems already!

  He already knew something or another in his mind was going to freak him out, so to avoid it he closed his eyes again and tried to move once more.

  Well, this sucked. What type of sleep paralysis didn't come with a dream? Bad ones, that's what.

  There was a sudden pain in his upper arm. Small at first, like someone accidentally shocked him, but it grew. Stronger with each passing second until it felt like his arm was about to be violently ripped off at the shoulder. It came in quick, short waves; stronger, then faded, then stronger still.

  He wanted to scream, tried to scream, but nothing moved. He couldn't open his mouth to shout, call for help, anything. What if a zombie had broken in and was eating him while he was laid here? What if something was actually happening to him? And he couldn't call out!

  Sonic's eyes snapped open along with his body springing into actually, finally letting him sit up to look around the pitch black room in a frenzy before fumbling for the light at his side. A dim orange glow filled part of the room, no sound besides his heavy panting could be heard. Then, he looked at his shoulder, frowning.

  Nothing was there. No bruise, sore, scratch, cut, bite. Nothing.

  “I really need sleep.”

  Sonic glanced at the table just to sigh at the lack of a clock there. At one point there was one there, on possibly the first day that the group came here, but it had since been long gone. He'd have to look at the moon or the other clock in the living area to be certain.

  After a pause to catch his breath, Sonic got up to drag himself down the hall and look for the time. He'd have to go downstairs before 12, or else Shadow would straight up break in or leave, and he was honestly too tired to deal with either options.

  12:11 AM.

  “Oh,  _ hell _ ,” he hissed to himself, hurrying towards the stairs before pausing at a window. There was a light there. He couldn't tell where it was pointing from, so he quickly peeked out the glass to see the beam travel along the ground. It trailed across the gate, up to the street outside, and onto the face of a zombie. He felt luckily that he wasnt close enough to properly see it, it looked rather gross anyway.

  The zombie blindly followed the light in a hurry, rushing towards the gate with reckless abandon, before grabbing onto the metal and crumpling in a a sizzling heap. Electricity crackled for only a split second, but it was loud and noticeable. The zombie didn't even have a chance to scream, only the semblance of a choked noise escaping its throat before it fell.

  The only thing that remained on the gate were rotten fingers cooked into the steel, having been pulled off from the hands they were attached to in a gruesome way.

  Sonic tore himself away from the window with a curse, hurrying towards the side exit with nothing but panic on his mind. He nearly slammed open the door but held back, standing in the doorway to stare out. Where was Shadow? Had he come in earlier without him noticing? What if he had gotten killed along that way--?

  Then, Sonic sighed and facepalmed.

  There was Shadow, dragging himself along with a long yawn and wide stretch. His arms dropped to his sides and he blinked slowly, clearly haven woke up late and simply walked over with no sense of urgency.

  Shadow then looked up and waved, and Sonic waved back, but in a beckoning motion. Shadow then hurried to duck his head and slump, almost as if he just… passed out while walking?

  “Sonic?”

  At his name, Sonic flinched and whirled around, somewhat closing the door behind him.

  “Amy!” he called, then hissed and repeated himself at a much more respectable level. “Amy, h-hey,”

  The pink hedgehog looked him up and down, crossing her arms as she looked over his shoulder. Other than a zombie or two wandering around, nothing was out there. “Hey yourself. What are you doing?”

  “Shower,” Sonic blurted out, then quickly backpedaled. “I mean, I'm about to take a shower, a proper one.”

  “Didn't you  _ take _ a shower earlier?”

  “Yep! Not proper, though. I kinda just rinsed myself off and went back in, I didn't uh… feel too good, I couldn't sleep right and just… was overall stressed. I'd normally go on a run to calm my nerves, but, hah…” He trailed off, taking on a rather depressed expression for only a split second before he smiled awkwardly. “I can't really take a bath right now, so a shower would work I guess.”

  Amy's expression dimmed, and, without a word, grabbed Sonic's arm (in a delicate hold, mind you) and lifted it to sniff at his armpit. She pulled away with a weak grimace.

  “...gross,”

  “I just wanted to make up an excuse for why you're out, in case anyone asks.” Amy nodded mostly to herself and turned on her heel, her arms dropping to her sides. “I would stay away from the gate, you know. Don't be out too long!”

  Sonic nodded after her retreating form, stepping backwards out the side door. But she didn't leave yet, she had just given him space.

  “Um, privacy?”

  “I know, just, kinda nervous. I just wanna make sure you don't just pass out in the mud, you know? I mean, your arms…” she trailed off now, and to make her happy, Sonic kicked off his shoes, peeled off his socks and gloves, and unwrapped his stiffened bandages to toss them all in a pile.

  Sensing that this was going to fully escalate to Sonic showering in front of her, Amy turned and briskly left with a ever darkening blush.

  Sonic closed the door behind him, staring at the steel with a slight pout. Great, now he was naked and in the backyard, all to share a sandwich to a zombie!

  Shadow had remained in basically the same spot as before, dragging himself forwards and backwards in any direction and time. Had he not known his quills by now, he would have entirely passed him over.

  “ _ Hey, _ ” he whispered, waving Shadow closer.

  The zombie tilted his head slightly, enough to see if anyone was there, before lifting his head and stretching out his back. He walked to the gate briskly now, and Sonic hissed, miming for him to stop moving and jump over it.

  Shadow stopped mere inches from the fence, raising his hand to grab on and climb over it, just as a surge of chaos energy crackled through the metal. His fur stood on end and he leapt back, staring in utter fear while Sonic shook his head in a mocking ‘I tried to tell you,’ fashion.

  After a pause of uncertainty, Shadow crouched somewhat and jumped clear over the gate and crashed to the ground with a puff of loose dirt.

  “Hel-lo,” He finally greeted, halfway to the blue hedgehog. “Socks, gloves…? 

  Sonic nodded. “Yep. I had to make a reason for being out here, I didn't remember that Tails was testing his thingie-ma-goo tonight.”

  “ _ Thingie-ma-goo?” _

__ “I don't even have to  _ know _ Zombie speak to know you just repeated what I said.” Sonic ran the water, staring at the small bottle of body soap sitting up on a tiny stand that hadn't been there in a while. He had to at least make it  _ seem  _ like he was taking a shower, and probably smell better when he went back in.

  “Sorry about the gate.” Sonic spoke again, trying to calm himself. While he did trust Shadow more, the fear was still there that the other would attack him the moment he closed his eyes. “And the food. I think Amy's awake and I don't want her running into you. She has a massive hammer and  _ isn't _ afraid to use it.”

  Shadow smirked and nodded, leaning against the wall with his eyes closed and arms crossed. “That's… fine. Not hun...gree…”

  Then brought the awkward realization that Sonic would have to shower _in_ _front_ _of Shadow_.

  He stared at the water with growing anxiety, then noticed that the zombie looked slightly different than before.

  “Wait, weren't you wearing a bandage?” He finally stepped under, uncaring if the water was cold or not. He needed to shower quickly, anyway.

  “Hm?” Shadow opened his eyes long enough to look himself over, eyes settling on his injured shoulder. Yeah, he had been wearing a bandage a while ago, then ditched it a few hours ago because he couldn't sleep in them. The day had really tired him out, he couldn't even remember the last time he carried someone around, nor the last time he spoke that much.

  Then again, he didn't remember much of anything relating to his past or when he was alive.

  “Was. Itchy.”

  “I hear you, I used to rip them off as soon as I tried to sleep. I don't do that now because I can't like… risk getting an infection and not being able to fix it, but I don't think you guys have to worry about it?” Sonic dragged his claws through thick quills, growling as a knot came loose in his hands. He glances at Shadow to see the zombie sitting in thought.

  “Don't know.” Shadow sighed, the action soon turning into a yawn. Just how tired was this guy?

  Sonic stood back, shaking himself somewhat dry and tossing the soap back onto the mini table. There! Not as bad as he thought, actually. Shadow was half asleep during the entire thing, so he had no reason to worry 

  Shadow grunted and Sonic looked down just to stifle a small laugh, seeing that he absolutely drenched him with water after shaking himself dry.

  “Oh, sorry Shads.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter came easier than expected, nice  
> I will edit the notes if need be, I'm really tired and i can't even read rn  
> Thank you for reading!


	14. Chapter 14

Shadow rolled his eyes and stood, pointing to the still flowing water and then to himself with a tilt of hs head.

  “Uh, go ahead, be my guest. It's not as pleasant as it looks, I can tell you that.” He shrugged, earning a sigh from the zombie.

  “It's a hose,” he huffed, “How pleas...ant could...be?”

  “I think you're too tapped out to make any sarcastic comments mister wise-guy.” Sonic smirked, ignoring Shadow's grunt as he kicked off his shoes. “Speaking of,  _ why _ are you so tired? The last few times we've met you've more or less just looked more irritated than tired.”

  Shadow swung his bag from his shoulders and dropped it on the other side of the door, glancing to it a second after as if someone had attempted to take it. Instead of getting his own bar of soap, he simply grabbed the one Sonic used and stepped under the water. It was cold, as expected, but hey at least he could clean himself.

  “ _ Yes, I know. I didn't get to sleep, for some reason. That or I didn't rest. After you left, I went to sleep, and I woke up in front of that rabbit friend of yours and you passed out in the street.”  _ He halfheartedly explained, pausing to attempt a word or two in english for the other to understand. Unbeknownst to him, Sonic didn't get a lick of what he said.

  “Oh.” Nothing clicked in his mind. Instead he was more focused on something else.

  Shadow sure did have a ton of scars under his fur. Many looked old, older than Shadow's… zombie scars? Could he call it that? He wondered what Shadow even did in his past life. Maybe he was a thug, and got into a ton of fights? Nah, that didn't seem like Shadow. He wasn't the time to start a fight just because.

  Oh, maybe a cop, that sounded right! Police officers got tons of wounds sometimes, or a fireman…?

  Who knows, he could be part of some secret agent, you could never know.

  It wasn't until he saw Shadow staring back at him that he realized that he’d been awkwardly watching him shower. Sonic quickly looked up and away, folding back his ears as he felt his face began to warm.

  “Uh, um…”

  “ _ Like what you see?” _ Shadow grinned, just to chuckle airly and cut off the hose at Sonic's sputter.

   “I-I don't! I was just-- looking at your scars, damnit.” He could just  _ feel _ Shadow smirking at him.

  “Doesn't… help your… case.” 

  Sonic groaned and turned away, crossing his arms just to hiss and stare down at his wounds. Weird, they were healing a bit faster than usual. Still bled a tad. Oh well, at least he didn't smell horrible anymore. “How did you get all of those, an-anyway?”

  Shadow's expression changed, and he shook himself dry. It didn't work very well, but he figured he would dry soon enough. “Don't remem...remember much…” He tilted his head. “Other than… How I die… and snip-pets.”

  Sonic nodded, though he was a bit concerned. To forget most of your life just like that? It seemed sad.

  The two went quiet some, then flinched when there was another yell and thud as a zombie was caught by the gate beyond their view. Shadow looked at the other.

  “ _ Did you actually understand what I said back then?” _ Shadow asked, leaning against the cold brick as he slid his shoes back on.

  “I didn't, I just kinda guessed what you said. Apparently I was close there.”

  “ _ Yeah, because you were hitting on me.” _

__ “Yeah, right? I'm getting better at guessing so you don't gotta stress yourself all the time!”

  That… was unexpected. Shadow pulled his gloves on and hummed. That surprisingly made him feel odd, knowing that Sonic was attempting to be kind to him still. It was also awkward knowing what he just said to him.

  “Also, is that sanitary?” Sonic cleared his throat and pointed to the soap Shadow had dropped back onto the stand, and the zombie followed his gaze with a look of wonder as well. “I mean, I dunno if Zombie-Ness can be spread through… soap.”

  “I know… blood,” Shadow shrugged. “And… sa-li-va.”

  “Sonic, you've been out-- Where,” Amy stuck her head out from the door suddenly, spotting Sonic cowering behind his hands despite being fully clothed by now. She eyed his freshly cleaned wounds with uncertainty. “There you are. You've been out for a while, I got worried and thought you passed out or  _ worse! _ ”

  “ _ Amy _ !” He whined, dropping his arms to glare at her. His eyes darted to the side to see Shadow gone. He couldn't have been far away. “I told you I would be alright, I just took a longer shower, I was just coming back in anyway.”

  The pink hog blushed and stepped out to look around, seeing the gate light up again. She didn't so much as flinch. “It looks so dangerous up close.”

  “...I suppose so-- look, I'm getting kinda cold, and my--” He looked around again, hoping Shadow had found a good hiding spot in the less-than-a-split second he had to run. “My cuts are gonna dry and get infected out here, I'm going back in to warm up.”

  “Oh,” Amy spun on her heel and smiled, following him in. “Okay, sorry about that. Knuckles and I were watching from the window, and I went out to see it up close but Tails said it might still be too dangerous to see through the front door.”

  Sonic nodded vaguely, grabbing Amy's wrist just to hurry her along, but she paused again.

  “Who's bag is this?”

  “What bag?”

  Sonic looked over his shoulder just for his eyes to widen. Shadow's bag. He was probably too panicked to remember it, or he didn't have enough time to grab it before Amy showed up. “I… dunno,” He lied, unable to come up with anything to say. “I think it's been here a while, I'll check it in my room.”

  “Oh, I can do it. We can do it now, even, it's right here after all.” Amy bent to pick up the bag, wondering what exactly was inside and how long it must have been outside for it to smell like utter  _ death _ . “It smells so groooosss!”

  Then, she shrieked and stood, whirling around with utter rage burning in her eyes that was quickly fizzled out into concern.

  Sonic had collapsed in the mud, splashing it up against her shirt and pants in the process. She grabbed him and heaved him up into her arms, hurrying inside and forgetting about the bag altogether. “See, I knew, I shouldn't have let you outside!”

  Amy hissed to herself as she stormed upstairs, kicking Sonic's door open and squinting at the sudden moonlight. When had he taken off one of the window barricades? Probably recently. She gingerly rested him on the bed and sighed, looking at the sheets she would probably have to wash herself now.

  “Damn you, Sonic. I'll let you sleep, okay? But you better be better in the morning. I swear.” She growled, then stood to take her leave. She had to change her clothes anyway, mud wasn't the best when it dried in thin fur.

  Sonic waited up until he heard his door shut, and then her door, before he finally opened his eyes and sat up.

  “The things I do for a friend, damn.” He whispered, standing up to stare at the window in concern. He didn't take that panel off. It clicked. His window was right above the ‘shower’.

  “You in here, Shads?” his voice was barely above a whisper. He earned a quiet groan in response. “You can get your bag now. Where did you even put the wood?”

  “...behind dresser…” the zombie crawled out from under the bed, making Sonic shudder. The mere sight was terrifying.

  “I had a dresser?” It was more like just a set of drawers than a dresser, but, hey, if he looked long enough he could see a corner of the old wood poking out from behind the furniture. “Oh.”

  “ _ The things I do for a friend.”  _ Shadow repeated, stretching himself out and turning to Sonic as the hedgehog wiped off most of the mud with a towel. “ _ You think of me as a friend, even when I could possibly harm you…” _

__ “No problem, bud.” Sonic gave him a thumbs up and a kind smile. “Hey, I almost died from crashing into a glass door, I'm happy to return the favour.”

  Shadow felt his eyes sting and hurried to open the window, grumbling a ‘later,’ as he climbed out. He refused to admit that his tail had began to wag.

  As he crashed to the ground, mud splashed at his feet and he realized what Sonic had done.  A small smile showed as Shadow picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder, staring up at the still open window. Sonic was leaning out of it, watching Shadow with concern. His eyes would dart to the gate, then around, as if looking out for danger. When they locked eyes, Sonic grinned happily.

  “ _ I wish I could join you.”  _ He whispered to himself, taking a deep breath as he ran and leapt over the fence. When he landed, he took another glance back to see Sonic waving him off. “ _ I do. I want to be your friend, I do. I just can't trust… myself.” _

__ Sonic hummed and pulled back from the window, shutting it behind him and looking to his mud-caked bed. Oh well… He grabbed the sheets and tugged them off, tossing them in a pile behind him as he laid down.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Falling asleep while sitting up, aint that great


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't ever do chapter summaries because then i just say whats gonna happen and ppl dont like that

Shadow didn't show up the next night.

  Amy did laundry, going into his room without his knowledge,  and took the muddy sheet. She also moved his bed to pick up his discarded bandages that he didn't bother to properly throw away, and his pillows that he tossed around in his sleep. Zhe had found the case with all the gauze and bandages in it.

  Sonic had lied and told that he saved those for himself because he was always putting himself first when it came to danger. He said that he didn't want them to ever worry too much about him. He couldn't tell if she bought it or not, but she didn't say anything else about it.

  Shadow didn't show up the night after that. There was no way to contact him, he wasn't even sure if Shadow had a phone he could call.

  Tails had finished the freezer, as that was more important in Knuckles’ eyes, and had moved onto the alarms again. He hadn't slept in two days now.

  Sonic stood at the side door, wiping tar-like blood and decomposed filth from his gloves just to flick into the mud below. Sure, the electric fence worked, but they still had to manually get rid of some of the bodies. The smell alone could drive them insane, and some of their grotesque figures had began to decompose further and gather maggots. It didn't help that he had to basically do it alone, as Amy couldn't stand pulling the bodies away unless they were freshly dead, and Knuckles was helping Tails with the alarms. He didn't even know he’d helped the first time, but eventually he hoped the echidna would finally help longer than two minutes.

  On the third night, Sonic was up late again. He'd gotten rid of most of the bodies himself, dragged nearly a full block away via a stolen dolly and dumped either in or around to a large dumpster. He took off his gloves to run water over them in hopes that would remove the horrid stench and smell, but he had doubts.

  “--’xcuse me!” Came a voice, female, and Sonic looked up. She was standing on the other side of the fence, dressed to the teeth in thick, dark clothes. The outfit got bulky around her hips, and he knew she had weapons there. “Mind letting us stay for the night?”

  He voice was sweet, sickeningly so. Sonic leaned to the side, pressing his back against the door while one arm slowly turned off the water. “And why exactly would I do that?” he challenged, head tilting to the side, but her eyes merely narrowed as if she was smiling. The only parts of her he could see were her fingertips, her eyes, and her destroyed ears.

  “I think you know why, big dog.” She looked over her shoulders, where a group of similarly dressed mobians pulled out from the shadows. “We outnumber--  _ hey!” _

  Sonic had left.

  That was always the thing about villains, they talked way too much!

  In the time it took her to turn her head, Sonix had opened the door, sprinted inside, locked it behind him, activated the alarms (finished or not), and was running to alert everyone.

  Knuckles and Tails were the first he came across, the two exiting the basement he vowed to never set foot into, where their only words were ‘Damn’ and ‘Mmmh’ respectively.

  “Did you see how many their were?”

  “No. I didn't want to waste time listening to her talk. By the way she was moving as I left, I think she was trying to show that she had a lot of people with her.”

  The lights flickered overhead and there was a scream of absolute suffering that followed, then the lights remained solid once more. Not long after, there was a screech of agony.

  “We have at least one down, maybe two.” Knuckles shrugged already rushing towards the living room for his bat. “You go warn Amy and Cream, if they don't already know. Find a hideout until we can get a plan. Communicators on.”

  Sonic nodded briskly, sprinting past Knuckles as the echidna looked at his arms. They had healed by now, and damn was he glad that they did. He was sick of the trails of blood whenever he got the urge to pick off his scabs.

  Cream quite literally flew into him, stumbling backwards a bit before she caught herself and nodded. She leveled her gun to the floor. “There were five on my side. Two tried to climb the gate at the same time, and both were knocked out. One flew above the gate and I shot their eyes out.”

  The mental image was scarring, but it made sense. The only gun they had on deck for her was a modified bb-gun, and she weirdly focused on the eyes of her targets. She was squeamish around zombies, but survivors? Didn't care. “Good. You tell Amy? I already told downstairs, and it's a code yellow.”

  “Told Amy,” Cream nodded, but just before Sonic could run back to his room and hide, she caught his arm. “What about Shadow?”

  Sonic folded back his ears, eyes darting to her bookbag for only a split second. “I dunno, I haven’t seen him in three days. I’m seriously considering scouting for him.”

  The rabbit hummed but didn't respond, looking around for a second. The lights turned out. Part of the alarm, he guessed. “I'll scout tomorrow and invite you along. For now,” She raised her gun and gestured for him to move. “We should hide.”

  Sonic heeded her advice and ran, coming up with a plan the second his feet began to move. He hadn't bothered to replace the wood on his window, so his bedroom was a death trap.

  He didn't trust the basement, and the higher floor only meant that if he had to jump from the window he  _ would _ injure himself.

  So, the freezer it was.

  Sonic punched on the new code and opened the heavy door, swiping his hand across the keys to wipe away any fingerprints he could. It would have helped if he could have worn his gloves, but they were still soggy and would have left behind water stains anyway.

  It was freezing inside. It was to be expected anyway, since it was a freezer, but that didn't mean he wasn't annoyed by it. There was also a code lock on the inside, he noticed, but it seemed kinda stupid in his opinion. If you knew the code to get in, then you knew the code to get out. But hey, if you were pushed in and the door shut on you, maybe the cold would make you panic and forget the code?

  ...Possibly. Stilll didn't make sense.

  Sonic hugged himself and started pacing around the rows of metal shelves, each stacked high with food that they had been storing for a while. Back, way back, when the building they used to live in had a truck and their group consisted of seven people, one of the survivors with them kept planning on moving to the motel and kept driving back and forth with food. 

  He kept stocking the freezer, taking more and more food from each level of the building, no matter if it was large meals or small snacks, and hauling it to the motel. After a while, Sonic's group called him out on stealing food that they had currently stored for themselves, which he had done, and either ate it himself or sent it to the motel.

  He was a marten, Sonic remembered clearly. He looked up to no good from the start, but he was a good fighter, so he was kept. Then, he started getting secluded, wore more bandages, and suddenly kicked them out of the group that  _ he _ was apparently the leader of and went down to drive to the motel and live there alone.

  A few days later, his corpse was found. On the second floor, slumped in a corner, holding fistfulls of candy and snacks he had stopped to search for along the way.

  No one had felt too bad about him, but it still wasn't a very pretty site. It shook them up bad.

  Then, Vanilla had to up and leave. It was for a good reason, but…

  Sonic shuddered and started pacing faster, then stopped to run in place. It was getting very cold, and his head began to hurt. He suddenly stopped and shook his head clear. No. Freezers didn't pump in oxygen, he shouldn't exercise. He needed to stay warm but not waste oxygen

  Tails looked at Knuckles as the echidna sat stalk still, leaned underneath the window and staring at the door.

  He opened his mouth to speak, but a death glare from the echidna made him shut it right after. They had been sitting in the dark for five minutes now, and while it wasn't quiet at all from the alarms, traps, and electric fence still going off, along with a few shouts from the group that had clearly broken in, it was still an adrenaline rush.

  Tails’ legs itched to move. He felt unsafe. There was no good hiding spot in this room, Amy's, as it was the closest, and he could do nothing about it. The only thing covering the windows was the blinds from when this building was still being used as an actual motel, and they could easily be looked through. The door was right beside him, and while it did lock, if anyone wanted to they could break it wide open in a few good kicks.

  He shifted and his tails curled together tightly, so much so that he was sure they would get a cramp if he didn't relax.

  He took a breath. He was armed, but not much so. He had his knife, Knuckles had his bat. He still had a sort of gun at his hip, really just a last resort, but that didn't make him feel any better.

  Knuckles’ eyes widened and he stood, taking two steps before his shoulder crashed into the door and held it closed just as something slammed into it from the other side.

  A short pause, both holding baited breath, waiting for the next slam, when an axe sliced through the middle of the door like butter and clacked against Knuckles’ head. He pulled away with a grunt as the weapon fell loose and was pulled through the hole it created. The axe fell to the carpeted floor and blood flowed down Knuckles’ face in a quick stream as he tried to gather himself, struggling to even regain his balance.

  The door opened with another slam, and in came someone dressed in pure black. Tails sprung up to his feet and took the chance to stab her while she bent to retrieve her axe, thinking that the room was empty.

  He should have aimed higher, as when his knife dug into her back with a sickening squish and tear, she stood up straight with a yelp and ripped it from her own back to pull on him.

  Tails pushed back, eyes darting over to Knuckles to see him on the ground. He was still struggling to move, body shaking all over, but he was grabbing onto the woman's leg and was getting most of her attention.

  Pain exploded in his mouth, but he couldn't open it to yell. It was held shut by the serrated edge of his own knife, dug into the flesh under his chin, just above his neck. The tip had drove through, through his tongue, and to the roof of his mouth, where it was only stopped by him jerking his head back in shock.

  A pop, and the knife was pulled free. The woman crumbled to her feet, scrambled bits of her brain dripping from the massive wound in her head.

  “Good shot,” Knuckles barely managed to whisper, finally clawed his way to his hands and knees. He stared at her body, it being the only thing he could possibly see at the moment. “Damn axe hit my skull, I'm all shook up. You good?”

  Blood dripping to the ground was his only answer, and gathering enough strength to look up, Knuckles hissed and forced himself to stand despite the dizzy spells.

  “Tails? Tails, are you with me, buddy? I wasn't expecting the axe, I should have--” 

  The kit shook his head, looking down to the gun he held in his hand. It felt warm, but the warmest thing in him right now was his mouth. His lower jaw especially. He never knew what the feeling of being able to stick your tongue out of your mouth without opening it would feel like, but it wasn't a very nice experience.

  Blood freely dribbled down his lips and off chin, but mainly flowed out from the underside of his jaw like a leaky pipe. It stained his chest red in a handful of seconds, all while he remained wide eyed, staring down at the blade that had just did this to him. His knife. The one he made, himself.

  “Are you with me?” Knuckles asked again, and finally Tails nodded. “Good. I'm sorry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm like, super (not) sorry but someone gotta be hurt okay? Ghrkvjebxke  
> And to kinda explain, Tails was stabbed right under the chin, where the fleshy part is, through his tongue, and the tip stabbed the roof of his mouth but didn't go the rest of the way through.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact, I wrote this pretty much on accident? I went to post it and went "oh wait this doesn't come out yet so..." oof

  He was starving.

  That wasn't exactly news, but he couldn't do anything about it this time. He needed to get more food, he'd been snacking more than rationing. He'd depended on Sonic too much.

  Shadow hadn't properly eaten when he rescued Sonic and Cream. He simply went back to his shelter, ate some crackers as a quick snack, and fell asleep. The following night he hadn't eaten because that fox was using the gate and everyone else seemed to be awake, so he couldn't risk it, and went back to finish off his box of crackers in an attempt to fill himself.

  The next day, he didn't have the strength to leave the house. He cooked most of the dry food he had, and whatever snacks he gathered didn’t fill him remotely.

  If he went outside, he'd go on a rampage.

  Shadow snarled and curled into a tight ball, scratching at the carpeted bedroom floor before sitting up straight and looking around, eyes wide and unfocused.

  He looked for an exit. There were none. After standing to wander around for a few minutes, he collapsed again with an open sob of hunger.

  Seconds later, Shadow woke up again and sighed. He'd understood this much about his zombie state; he turns into a total idiot.

  All his zombie side knows how to do is kill and eat, but if it ever gets trapped, tied down, or lost, it just wanders aimlessly or gives up right away. It was good and bad, in a way. Not many ways, but he could probably use it to his advantage.

  Shadow stood and pulled the dresser away from the door, something his zombie side saw as simply another wall, and hurried downstairs and outside.

  Starving. Only more zombies were out, but luckily he was only on the cusp of eating one as much as he hated it. The store wasn't far. It still had a lot of things, hopefully. He hadn't heard anyone drive up to it, at least.

  The zombie dropped into a sprint, uncaring that he was using up energy. He needed food, and that was all that was on his mind. Binge some food while he was there, refill his bag-- to the _brim_ this time-- and head back home.

  ...could he call that shelter a home? It wasn't one. At all.

  “ _Not going to dwell on that.”_

“Oh!”

  Shadow's eyes widened and he hurried to duck behind whatever he could find, vaguely understanding that it was probably a mailbox. Seconds passed without anything happening, so slowly, he inched around the mailbox to peek into the street. No one. Not even zombies, really, other than corpses.

  He heard a voice, didn't he? Oh, maybe it was the hunger. He didn't have time to duck and hide after every noise now, that could clearly wait.

  Shadow got back to his feet and continued his run, just for something primal, a sudden instinct, to kick up in his body and make him dash backwards just as something flashed past him and dug into the brick building beside him.

  “Damn,” he hissed, ducking back behind the mailbox. He barely made any progress! Now was not the time to be dealing with a lone survivor trying to kill him, unprovoked, mind you!

  “ _Okay,”_ Shadow spoke to himself, leaning back against the cool, blue metal. There was a dinging noise from possibly a bullet bouncing against it from the other side, but it was ignored. “ _One last time_.”

  A few huffs, then he sprung up and took off into a sprint. The store was in eyesight, maybe a block or two away.

  Through the parking lot.

  Things started to get blurry, but he shook his head and dashed with the last of his strength through the missing door, slid on the glass that still remained, and with the grace of a wet rat, fell backwards and smashed his head on the floor.

  … By the time he woke up, it was the next day, early in the afternoon. In the same exact place as he fell.

  Which, luckily enough, was right next to the snack aisle. Shadow tore open a bag of chips and poured them straight into his mouth from the same position, uncaring how dumb he must have looked. It felt nice to have something in his stomach, no matter how small.

  Actually, he would kill for some instant noodles.

  Wait, no, that sounded bad coming from his side.

  He'd die for some instant--

  “ _Nope, still wrong_ .” Shadow sat up finally, rubbing the side of his head to stave off an oncoming headache. “ _How about I just stop thinking and look for some?”_

  Maybe it was because he was a half-dead, or maybe because he showered recently, but the store didn't smell as bad as he expected. Sure, he hadn't moved a single body ever since his rampage, and flies had gotten in and laid maggots across nearly each rotting corpse, but it wasn't the most horrible smell. Until he got closer to a body, of course, but other than that he could manage.

  He spotted the brightly coloured package of instant noodles and hurried over, stuffing some into his bag and packing them down. Next, he needed water tablets, and probably some filters for when he moved closer to the forest. Then again, he wouldn't exactly need them now, and he didn't know if he could get sick or not, so he decided to save space and continue on.

  “ _Nice, frozen pizza,”_ Shadow smirked, rubbing his hand fondly over the cool box. He had no room for something that big, and he was sure that the freezer coated with blood back in his shelter was busted, based on the sooty burn mark on the outlet it was plugged into.

  Also, that seemed like more of a treat than a ration. Stay focused!

  More dry, instant food. Shadow felt nostalgic, somehow. Of something he used to eat in his previous life, though he couldn't remember the name of it now. There were some emergency blankets, and a thermos, and some more bandages and disinfectants. By the time he was almost done, he was sure he'd probably need a second bag to continue. Unfortunately, none that this store sold were as big as his bookbag to begin with.

  Shadow wandered still, eyeing a couch up on a stand. There was a clear discharge of a firearm marking on the arm of it, and a dead body at the foot of the stand, but why not? He _was_ dead, afterall. He climbed up and laid back, drinking a bottle of espresso he found in the freezer section.

  … He wasn't sure if he enjoyed this life, of the little things such as not having the threats of a typical survivor such as zombies and other survivors.

  His only enemies were himself and sometimes other survivors, but it was rather easy to avoid them if he just covered his wounds. For himself? All he had to do was sleep regularly and eat his rations properly, and no one died.

  After about ten minutes of rest, Shadow hopped down and headed for the last item on his list, the water purification tablets. He made his way to the aisle in a slight haze, absentmindedly complaining that his trip would be much faster if he had an employee to help.

  When he finally found them, damn near in the back of the store, he filled almost every available space left with the small bottles.

  His ears perked up and the zombie paused, listening while in the middle of placing the last water tablet bottle into his side pocket.

  Silence, then, the crunch of glass followed by a whir of the sliding door chugging open.

  “Sweet!” Someone cheered, but was quickly shushed. The rest of the sentence was too muffled to hear.

  Shadow dropped to the ground, sliding his bag behind him and slumping against a shelf.

  He could sneak around, but that would only make it easier for him to get caught. Obviously, that was a group. Of the many footsteps he heard, some were branching off, so if he tried to sneak around, take the rest of his food, and leave, it would be much more difficult. Not to mention lugging around a heavy, bulky bag as he snuck around.

  “... I don't think anyone would be here,” a voice, female, came closer, and he held his breath. Did he even need to breathe? Maybe. His heart was still beating. “There's way too many zombies for that.”

  “Then we should hurry and pack up so we may leave.” A pause. Another female voice. Did this group consist of only women? “Take this aisle. There's survival kits, we may need some.”

  “And you?”

  “I'm going for the canned foods, of course.” a huff. “And fix your cloak, it's not hot in here.”

  The footsteps branched off, and the one girl drew closer.

  “Man, it stinks in here. Everything's rotting…” She then mumbled to herself, standing so close to Shadow that he could smell her fur. “Director's a bitch, too...

  Slowly, he cracked an eye open. Just enough. She was wearing gym shoes, her fur was lavender with pink stripes. At least on her legs they were. A tail brushed his side and he shut his eyes as she squealed and back away. “Ew…!”

  She paused again, and Shadow took the chance to slowly inhale.

  So hungry.

  He could smell the scent of her fur, but it was far now. It slowly drew closer, along with shuffles of someone clearly crawling on their hands and knees. “You still dead?”

  He didn't reply, of course.

  “Oh, you got a bag. Lemme… see…” Another pause, then a prod on his shoulder and he almost lost it. Luckily enough, she gasped and pulled her hand away with a mumble of how he was ‘still warm’.

  So hungry. He should have been eating now.

  “If you just died,” Apparently she had a habit of talking to herself. “Then someone's still in here.”

  He’s _going_ to eat now.

  “ _Me_.”

  “Hey, what's taking you so long? Hurry the hell up! We don't have all damn day!” Came the older voice from before, and Shadow looked up.

  Well… how was he going to explain this?

  He didn't have much time now, before his zombie side would kick in. And, he made quite a mess of himself, too…

  “...Ash?” The voice drew closer, and he grinned and licked the blood from his free hand. He really had to leave but… man did he forget what flesh tasted like.

  The Director rounded the corner only to see the mangled body of what used to be Ash. She wheezed and looked up, openly sobbing now that her mouth wasn't covered. Her lower half was entirely missing, the only thing remaining being bits of bone and fur. Her tail laid on the other side of the aisle, ratty, thin, and soaked in blood.

  “Director,” Ash cried, reaching up towards her. The other shook her head without a word.

  Shadow didn't look back, the zombie only reacting slightly to the shock of a gunshot coming from the store. He only grumbled incoherently, continuing on his way to seek out anything else he could shove into his stomach.

  


	17. Chapter (17) I'm Impatient

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's my birthday month so i do what i want and uplaod All The Time

Sonic cradled his legs close to his chest, shivering so badly he was sure that the snacks would fall off the shelves from the vibration alone. He attempted to eat, knowing that your body grew warmer when full, but he honestly didn't have the strength to. Nor the stomach to, nothing could settle long enough to warm him up, and after forcing himself to eat enough snacks to fill a horse, he practically had to curl up in a ball to prevent himself from flat out spitting it back up.

  Oxygen was getting short, too. Almost no one went in here for enough time for it really take effect, but the freezer wasn't that big. He's already been in there, what, two hours? The raid should have been over by now, but because the damn security system was Amy so adamant in making Tails change, the girls were  _ locked in with them. _

  He could leave, fight instead of listen to the plan, but he was the only thing separating himself from almost sheer death.

  The girls had found the door, what they were probably looking for. Food. And, if the alarms were working the way they should, then the doors wouldn't open for another hour. 

  Funny, he wasn't shivering anymore. At least he didn't have to deal with that.

  Sonic wasn't exactly sure what the girls were doing, there was a typing sound at first, then just banging. He assumed they were trying to break it down, but nothing was working. Not like they could break through, the door, walls, ceiling, and floor  were all steel and a mix of some other metals he couldn't care enough to think of.

  Wow he was dizzy. His arms ached too. Damn, he should leave, this probably wasn't good for him.

  Or maybe take a nap? Wait for this to blow over? Sure, what else did he have to lose.

  Sonic forced himself to stand and dragged his numb legs forward in search for a suitable pillow. He had no problems sleeping on the ground anyway, but he always needed a place to rest his head. Plus, didn't you breathe slower when you were asleep? Yeah, that was probably right.

  He gathered a few loaves of brick-hard frozen bread and tossed them beside the door, then slid down the cold metal surface and fell over roughly onto the bags. They weren't comfortable, but anything would do right now. He closed his eyes and sighed, hoping the group would leave soon enough.

  “Hey, you still with me?” Knuckles asked for what seemed like the fifth time tonight, and again didn't get a clear answer. The kit had finally listened and put a towel to his jaw to he wasn't bleeding as fast anymore, but that was as far as his actions went. 

  It didn't help that he couldn't get much of any words out now, and those he did sounded choppy. “We have to get Amy, right? We need to get calmed down.”

  Tails’ eyes shot over to Knuckles as if to say ‘I am calm,’ but his mouth didn't move. His body didn't listen to his need to stand up. Everything was sluggish, and felt as if every action was doubled yet lagging behind. When he finally got to his feet, his head tilted forward and he spit blood onto the floor. Not much, but enough to terrify the echidna.

  “That… don’t look healthy.” Was all he could say, then grabbed the kit's hand and hurried out the door. The action was choppy, cut up by the both of them struggling to just stay upright half the time, but with Knuckles’ vision slowly messing with him, making the ground seem closer than it seemed. ‘That hit must up messed me up a lot’, he silently figured, blinking slowly as if that would center him again.

  Tails stared at their hands in increasing concern, trying to will himself to speak. Knuckles was grabbing him too hard. Couldn't he feel that he was grabbing him too hard? It hurt, but he couldn't pull away. Hell, he had enough trouble keeping his arm up to keep pressure on his jaw.

  The two stumbled into Amy's room just as the hedgehog emerged from the closet, piko piko in hand and inches away from Knuckles' face before she pulled it back with a quiet gasp.

  “The attacked you?” It was a redundant question, but she didn't wait for an answer anyway. “Gotta get Sonic and Cream. Stay here, I'll get to you two soon.

  Amy hurried past the two, accidentally bumping the kit in her haste and knocking his hand free from Knuckles’ grip. He would have said something had his body allowed.

  Cream was easy to find, holled up in her room in one of the many piles of clothes. When she emerged, Cheese flew out with her and the hedgehog tensed up, knowing that wasn’t a good sign, but now was no time to worry. She knew exactly where Sonic would hide, and they needed to hurry.

  “Can you bring your gun?”

  “Sure…” The rabbit asked no questions and packed up, following her out into the hall.

  Amy stared down the hallway, Cream at her far side with Cheese on her shoulder, still uncaged. They were the only two she had left. Knuckles couldn't stand long enough to throw a punch, and Tails was in shock. Sonic wasn't in any other room beside the freezer, and she needed to get him out.

  Three people stood at the door, one trying to shatter the keypad with an aluminum bat, one using a crowbar to pry the door open, and the last standing a few feet away, holding a chainsaw over her shoulder and eyeing Amy down with a devilish smirk. She wore goggles, they both noticed, along with a shotgun somehow attached to her hip. Other than that, all the two could tell was that she was possibly a chinchilla due to tail.

  “Hey, Director here.” She greeted, squinting without dropping her grin. She held her chainsaw over her shoulders as one would do with a bat. “Care to open the door for a starving girly? Us women have to stick together, you know.”

  “You have a shitty way of being friendly.”

  “Ooh, a pottymouth! And right in front of the poor baby!” Director dropped her arm to saunter closer, holding the chainsaw across her body as Amy put herself between the woman and Cream. 

  The way she stressed ‘baby’ and opened her mouth in a shocked ‘oh!’ was… distressing, more so than the way she gestured wildly with that powertool. 

  “Hey hey, we don't attack girls unless provoked. You know, like what you're doing now?” She smirked, and Amy silently glared.

  “Leave, then. We aren't provoking you.” Cream growled, Cheese huffing a few times in agreement.

  “Oh, so lets see…” The Director pulled her hand to her chin, tapping her fingers in thought. “So, one with her eyes shot out bled to death, one electrocuted to death, one with her brains blown out, and one with her head smashed in. Four casualties doesn't seem like provoking to you?”

  Amy swung, her piko piko summoning the second her swing reached the Director. Before it could make contact, the Director's free hand shot forward and grabbed Amy's arm, and a sharp jab to her ribs made the hedgehog collapse in a coughing fit.

  “ _ Amy _ !” Cream cried out, flying a few steps backwards to shoot the Director while Cheese flew down to tug on the downed hedgehog's arm.

  Amy recovered enough to get to her knees, staring up at the woman as she dropped something to tug on the cord of her chainsaw. She was bleeding, but not much, skin barely damaged around her muzzle and goggles cracked but not broken. Bb pellets did next to nothing, now that she thought. 

  Her eyes followed the small object and she gasped, grabbing the dart with a yell. “What did you inject me with-- WHAT DID YOU INJECT ME WITH!?” a small pockmark laid on her arm, a single bead of blood bubbling up to the surface, unnoticed had she not seen the dart.

  A rev of the chainsaw was her only answer as it sailed right over her head, a short yelp sounding behind her as Cream launched herself back from the teeth tearing all the way through her stomach. A fresh red line trailed across her stomach, bits of her shirt ripped away to expose it. Luckily, it wasn't deep.

  “You provoked me! Provoked me, provoked me!” The director chanted, raising the chainsaw above her head with a mighty swing. There was a sharp pain in her neck and she hissed, grabbing at whatever it was as the chainsaw barely held itself over her head. She grabbed Cheese and ripped him off, squeezing hard as she whipping at the wall.

  As she did, Cream lurched forward and stabbed, aiming for the head for a fast kill. She'd done it plenty of times to zombies, straight through the skull, they die almost instantly.

  But, the woman tilted her head, the knife only digging through her goggles and stopping merely a centimeter before her eye. Time seemed to slow.

  “Sorry, bun-bun.” Director chuckled, then dropped her arm. The chainsaw came crashing down, the motor slamming on the rabbit's upper arm as the blade came close to slicing it clean off.

  The scream that tore from Cream's mouth as she stumbled back was deafening, and as tears filled her eyes she fell to her knees and clutched her arm. Searing pain, too much to say that her arm wasn't broken in some way. It luckily was still there, but no way could she still move it. She blinked away tears and looked around, watching Cheese's crumpled body struggle to breathe and get back to his feet, watching Amy stare at her with wide, unblinking hazy eyes, watching the two girls continue to hack at the door Sonic hid just behind. It was too much.

  “You know, my offer’s still on the table. All you gotta do is tell me the code to that freezer over there, and we'll leave you alone.” Director smiled sweetly, entirely unbothered by the knife still embedded in her goggles. “I can let go of a grudge, you know. I won't even have you join me, you can stay in this crappy motel.”

  Cream sucked back a sob and looked up, vaguely sure that she heard an odd sound a few seconds ago. She could only hear the rumbling of the idle chainsaw right in front of her now, but there was a different sound. Something somehow familiar.

  “...62391,” She coughed, scrubbing tears away from her muzzle with her filthy glove. “Please… leave… you've done enough.”

  Another sound, gross and wet followed by coughing. She looked up but the Director didn't seem to hear, only grinning at her still. 

  “Thanks sweetie,” She purred, then began to pull the shotgun up from its strap on her hip. “Too bad you decided to kill one of my girls.”


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternate title: Oof

The Director raised her gun and Cream ducked her head, mentally telling everyone goodbye, before her thoughts were cut off by a scream before they could even start.

  She jerked her head back up to see the Director whirl around and shoot, she couldn't see what she shot at, but it didn't matter long before the shotgun was grabbed and pulled.

  And Cream's eyes widened. Shadow.

  But… he didn't look right. His eyes were blown wide and unfocused, and though they were in the dark, she could see the blood staining his fur and the frothy spit coming from his open mouth.

  “What type of-- Let me go, damnit!” Director yelled, tossing her gun back towards the zombie as he stumbled back. “You damn men-- even dead you're still a nuisance!”

  Shadow merely snarled and leaned forward, mouth opened wide with a series of sound no normal being could make, before he turned somewhat and stopped his attack. He sniffed the air a few times, gaining a passive, dull but empty expression as he stared her down.

  Director's eyes widened a bit but she didn't falter, grabbing the chainsaw and lifting it one last time, planning on cutting the zombie down, but her eyes began to lose focus. Her arms shook and she gave a swing, missing Shadow when he simply stepped to the side with an irritated grunt, making a few sounds that were… somewhat in the back of her head. The tool dug into the ground and it tugged itself out of her hands, and she hissed.

  “Do I fucking smell bad? Huh, that's why you won't fight me? I don't smell good enough to eat, coward!?” She yelled, attempting to regain herself for another attack, but her legs failed her. The Director collapsed to her knees and finally turned to look down the hallway, where her last two girls were slaughtered, spread across the ground and barely recognizable. A blue hedgehog was being guided from the freezer by a bloody fox, and beside him a red echidna. She laughed.

  “This was planned, wasn't it?” She coughed a few times, looking back towards the zombie to see him no longer paying any attention to her. She coughed again, harshly, laying on her side and feeling at her neck at the sharp pain there, and pulled her hand away to watch blood drip down her fingers. That wasn’t just a normal scar, no one had even gotten somewhat close to her besides that rabbit and the zombie, she had gotten bit. When had Shadow bit her? She had never let him get that close, though. Never. 

  Shadow continued to ignore her with no issue, and instead, he approached Cream.

  The rabbit had gotten to her feet and was dragging Amy away with one arm, the other dangling uselessly while she whined in pain every time it even slightly jostled against her side. When she looked up, Shadow stood there, staring at her with an expression that just spelled hunger.

  “Shadow,” She finally spoke, voice strained with tears. “You calmed down last time, Shadow. Please, I… I can't fight anymore. You saved me-- saved us, just please…” she pulled Amy with each pause, thinking she could get away, but the zombie was faster, standing right in front of her each time.

  Then, he huffed, flexing his hands and balling them into fists, still staring. Finally, her eyes trailed down, and she put two and two together. She was bleeding. Not a lot, but enough to notice, and Shadow could tell. He could smell her blood, but why wasn't he attacking? Was he… fighting himself?

  His jaw was slack, drool freely trailing down his chin in thick strands, but he suddenly squeezed his eyes shut and gnashed his teeth together.

  He was in turmoil.

  He didn't see Cream before him, he only saw a child. He simply saw an injured child trying to escape what his brain could only piece together was her guardian, escape from… most likely him.

  But the smell of blood,though faint, was still there, and his hunger was never satiated.

  Then again, this was  _ a child _ . He could never harm a child. He could never. He could never. He could never.

  Shadow's ears pricked up and he turned sharply at a small click, turning to stare down the three from before. Tails stood in front, holding his gun straight out towards him, while Knuckles stood by the ready with a bat and Sonic hugged himself, entirely not here to fight. Shadow's expression softened, looking at Sonic somehow making him feel…  _ off _ , similar to looking at… wait, he knew her name. It was Cream, right?

  The Director’s body heaved and she pushed herself to her knees, grinning like a mad man. Her hood started to slip from her head and one of her ears poked out, the cloak starting to fall away from her shoulders when she didn't re-adjust it. “Hah, did-- didn't… die,” She wheezed, looking at Shadow as the zombie now snarled at her. “Your bi… bites are  _ weak _ …!” 

  The mockery didn't work when she could hardly continue english anyway, but she only laughed and carried on, standing to step closer.

  “You think… a… man, a  _ zom-- bie _ , could… k-kill…” She huffed again, words failing her by the second as sounds began to fill the gaps. Her eyes started to lose focus again, and when she tilted her head, her hood slid off entirely. Her grey fur shone in what little light was provided, and tears began to mat her muzzle down. “Kill… me.”

  She lost all focus in her eyes, staring at the zombie as he now ignored her again. “Don't--  _ don't ignore me, _ ” she lifted her hand, but her movements were shaky. She wasn't speaking english anymore, it was all a screech. “ _ Don't ignore me, you killed me, you can't ignore me--!” _

__ The Director collapsed, body twitching a bit before it slumped and remained still.

  Shadow maintained eye contact as Sonic pulled his hand away from Tails’ grip, letting the kit lower his gun as he looked at Sonic in utter shock. Then, Sonic smirked.

  “Hey Shad.”

  He grunted, but remained still. Cream sniffled and smiled, finally relaxed, and let herself fall to her knees so she could rest Amy's head on her lap.

  “Thank you, Shadow. I… we’ll be sure to return the favour.”

  He made a noise, looking around himself while flexing his hands. This wasn't right. He was still… hungry, but he couldn't eat. He could smell blood but his body wouldn't let him go forward.

  Shadow's ears perked up and he whirled around, snarling towards the blue hedgehog in a warning. He could barely control himself, and this was  _ not _ the time to be testing his self control.

  “Woah Shadow, calm down bud. We're not gonna hurt you or anything.”

  “I am,” Knuckles grumbled behind him, but it was ignored. Tails’ grip never loosened.

  “What's up, Shadow? Are you okay?” Sonic smiled softly, going to reach for his shoulder, but the look in his eyes made him stop. “...Oh.”

  The Shadow he knew wasn't all the way there yet. He heard Knuckles and Tails step closer and held his hand up behind him, stopping them in their tracks. Breathing was getting a bit hard.

  “Heh,” A stupid idea came to mind, and he blinked tiredly. “This seem familiar?”

  With that, Sonic stumbled and passed out, crashing to the floor without another word. Cream couldn't help but giggle, the sight somehow comforting.

  Shadow's eyes widened and he ducked down, frowning as he shook Sonic's shoulder.

  “Freezing… id-- iot…” He sighed, lifting Sonic up into his arms and turning to Cream. “Where is… bed?”

 

  Sonic woke up with a shudder, shooting straight up in bed and looking around with wide eyes. He was in his room, nothing special. Nothing had even changed beside the sheet on his bed, and even then it had just been a new, thicker one on top of his old.

  “Oh, that's right.” he shrugged, standing from his bed while wrapping the cover around his shoulders. “I was freezing to death, yeah.”

  He shuffled to his door and flinched when it opened, staring at all the blood in the halls. Well, at least they took out the bodies, he didn't want to have to do  _ that  _ again. He made the short trip to the living room all while thinking of Amy, hoping she was alright. Right before he passed out her saw her body, unsure if she was alive, but the rest of the night passed by in a blur.

  Sonic yawned loudly, opening the door will stretching. “Amy up?” He asked on the end of the yawn, eyes trailing to the middle of the room just to frown.

  Shadow was sitting in the middle of the room, tied and chained down with a… a  _ muzzle _ over his mouth. Like a wild dog. Knuckles stood beside him, tapping his bat on the floor. No one else was in the room. “Amy? She’s fine, just asleep. Apparently she was injected with some sort of sleeping dart, I'm not sure.” He shrugged a bit, reaching up to touch the gauze atop his head with a wince. “I'm fine, too, and Tails’ with her to help with Cream and her fracture.”

  Shadow shifted somewhat and Knuckles rose up, lifting his bat high, but when the other only grumbled he calmed down some.

  “...Okay,” Sonic shook his head. “And why'd you tie up Shadow?”

  “Why do you keep calling this  _ thing _ Shadow?! You saw what it did to those girls, and he turned that other woman! You fell and he tried to attack you and Cream, how can you--!”

  “Shut  **up** .” Shadow hissed, startling the echidna into stepping back from him. Sonic chuckled.

  “Because that's Shadow! He didn't attack me, he just picked me up.”

  “Did it just talk?”

  “Not an… ‘it’...”

  Sonic slung his arm and his cover around Knuckles’ shoulders and the other paused, looking up and away while he spoke. “Knuckles, that’s  _ Shadow,  _ my friend. He  _ saved _ us. Sure, I don't really approve of his methods but…”

  The hedgehogs made eye contact, but Shadow looked away with a dismissing noise. “S...sh...shar…”

  Then, he wheezed and coughed, attempting to lean forward but the rope was too tight. Sonic pulled away from Knuckles to rush over to him, patting his back in an attempt at comfort. His fit didn't stop, only getting heavier, thicker.

  “What is… _ he _ … doing?” Knuckles drawled, then hurried to stop Sonic when he attempted to untie him. “What are  _ you _ doing!?”

  “He's choking, damnit!” Sonic hissed, forcing exhausted limbs to move faster and shove the other out the way. Knuckles grabbed his arm, trying to pull him away, but it was too late. Shadow stood, turned on a dime, and rushed to the window and nearly broke it open, trailing chains and loose ropes around his ankles

  He stuck his head out the window and shoved the muzzle out the way around his neck, hunching over as blood clots forced themselves up and out his throat.

  Sonic rubbed his back, ignoring his scruffy fur to comfort him. “I… that's gross.”

  “ _ I'm not comforted by this either, _ ” he spit, then huffed and threw up again. Fleshy chunks, gross, thick spittle, disgusting bile following his whine. 

  Knuckles glared, then closed his eyes and turned away. “Fine then, if he kills you then don't come running back to me.” However, he didn't leave, simply standing there with his arms crossed.

  “Fine then,” Sonic shot back, pulling his hand away to huddle under his cover again as Shadow finished up. “I'm not in danger.”

  The zombie spit a few more times and pulled his head from the window, rubbing at his watery eyes with a groan of pain. “ _ Can I have some water?” _

  “Gonna have to speak english there bud, can't figure out that.”

  Shadow narrowed his eyes, squinting his eyes and folding back his ears. “W...a...wha…”

  Oh wow, no english anymore? Worst timing possible, he supposed. He rolled his eyes and mimed, holding a hand out, unscrewing an invisible top, and lifting his hand and tilting his head back.

  “Oh!” Sonic smiled. “Something to drink! Water, right?”

  He nodded, and Sonic walked past Knuckles to the kitchen. He pulled a cup from the cabinet, turned the faucet, and filled it from the tap. Until the pipes stopped working, they refused to use the bottles they had saved. As he walked back, Knuckles looked at him, but he didn't return the gaze.

  Sonic handed the glass over with a smile and Shadow hummed a sort of approval, then looked at the glass in thought. After a few seconds, he tilted his head back and poured the water into his mouth without his lips touching the rim. When he was finished, he gave it back.

  “Uh… considerate.” He didn't plan on keeping this cup anyway, couldn't be too certain yet. “But are you okay? Can you not speak anymore?”

  “I’m… t...try…”

  He held out his hand again, waving him off. “Don't hurt yourself, I'll find some pen and paper. Be right back.”

  Shadow took two steps forward to follow, but when the hedgehog gave him a quick uncertain look, he stopped in his tracks and waited.

  Okay, this wasn't bad. He just had to wait a couple minutes. Not like he was uncomfortable at all. He swallowed thickly and slowly pushed the muzzle back over his mouth, touching the metal silently.

  He couldn't bite anyone now. He… he wasn't much of a threat anymore.

  The thought was strangely comforting.

  “So… what's your relationship with Sonic?”

  The deep voice caught him off guard and he looked around, finding only Knuckles standing there. His chest was puffed out, arms still crossed, and voice somehow deeper. He didn't remember his voice being that deep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gshvishcibsdk  
> Rip in peace (?) Director the Chinchilla, your desire is to kill all men, starting with Shadow


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is it impossible to just have friends who like each other?

Shadow frowned and raise an eyebrow in question, wondering if he heard what he just heard from the other. “Wh…?” He sounded, hoping the echidna got it, which he (un)luckily did. Strangely enough, the muzzle somehow amplified his voice, so luckily he didn't need to speak loud anymore.

  “I  _ said _ , what's your relationship with Sonic? Hard of hearing because you're dead?” He grunted, but the obvious strain to keep his voice deep was clear as day and the zombie rolled his eyes.

  “Hmf,” Shadow chuckled, crossing his arms to mock his stance. “...wh...y?”

  The blush on Knuckles’ face could rival his fur alone, but he tried to play it off as anger and glared instead. “Just answer the question, damnit!”

  “ _ No, it's actually more fun messing with you. _ ”

  “What did you just say about me!?” The echidna balled up his fists, brandishing the two spikes atop them. “I already don't like zombies, so don't push it!”

  Shadow paused, then sighed again and went for ignoring him instead. He obviously couldn't speak right now, and speaking in whatever zombie language he somehow learned over time only made him more upset, so exploring was his only option. However… he probably wouldn't be leaving this room yet.

  Knuckles shouted something or another about being ignored as he wandered, but the only line he listened to was the one about ‘not touching anything’. He wouldn't, even he didn't know the extents of how this virus worked. Hell, he didn't even know if he could turn people. He never really… stuck around for that part.

  There was that dog, but… no, he had killed her, yes, but he didn't turn her. There was no way he did, he only tore her throat out.

  No, no, now wasn't the time for that.

  His eyes came across something green and he drew closer, looking at the potted plant sitting in the windowsill. Most of the leaves were entirely dead, save for very few towards the middle. It was dying of dehydration, simple enough. Shadow looked around briefly before he found his glass from before, where Sonic had set it down on a table next to the door, and went to the sink to refill it.

  “What are you doing?” The words were softer spoken but still cautious, and he looked back seconds before he turned the tap on. Surprisingly, the ‘deepness’ of his voice had left.

  “Wa...ter… plaaa--nt.” the zombie-esque slur made him cringe inwardly, but didn't show it otherwise.

  “Oh.” A pause, and Shadow filled his glass without protest. “I forgot we even had that thing.”

  The zombie hummed a bit and went back to the poor plant, setting the cup down beside it to start grabbing the dead leaves and pulling them off. It was some sort of succulent or fern, he assumed, hard to tell from the mess of it, but it didn't stop the fact that he wanted it to grow. When all the blackened leaves were stripped, he slowly poured in the glass of water before setting it next to the plant again, sure no one would want to use it.

  He was dead, afterall. It was probably contaminated.

  “Hey,”

_ Again? _

  “Hm?” Shadow mumbled, continuing his little adventure through the room, avoiding the kitchen almost completely save for that glass.

  “...Not too long ago, Sonic came to us wrapped up in bandages. Only his arms. Was that you?” Knuckles had found a perch on the arm of an old couch, the stuffing having been pulled from one of the corners while the middle of the seats started to cave in from wear. “I only ask because Sonic can't wrap his bandages worth anything, they’re always messy, thick, or fall off after a while.”

  Was this a trick question? He couldn't give the full story yet, so to compensate he tapped on a nearby surface to get his attention and nodded vaguely.

  “I see…” he stood, approaching the now distracted zombie as he crouched in front of the television and switched through the channels to see what could possibly be on. When it landed on what was normally the news channel, he was met with the same evacuation message as before.

  “You know, if it wasn't for Sonic, you would be dead where you stand.”

  The feeling of a nail-embedded bat against the back of his head would feel like a threat to anyone else, but Shadow? Merely an invitation.

  “As if I want… to live… l-- like this?” he choked out, standing and turning to face him. “I'm… no th...reat…”

  With that, he went to explore some other area, where there seemed to be another potted plant. It was too dead to save.

  “I'm back! And I came with someone who clearly should be in a bed, but hey who am I?” Sonic cheered, sentence quickly turning mocking when Tails came in from behind him. His mouth was covered by a surgical mask, but just behind it you could see gauze and bandages clinging to his jaw.

  The kit pulled up his clipboard and marker and scribbled quickly, then held the board to Sonic for him to read.

  “‘I don't want to stay in bed all day, that would do me no good. Only my mouth hurts.’ You do have a point, but still.”

  Tails’ namesakes waggled a bit at the concern, but when he saw Shadow, they stilled and he narrowed his eyes. Sonic hurried over to give him his own pad and marker, where the other gave a thumbs up and quickly began writing. When he was done, he gave the paper to Knuckles right away.

  “I see you two got along while I was gone.” Sonic smiled, as if that was his plan all along.

  Shadow shrugged a bit then smirked when Knuckles snorted and shook his head, knowing full well where he was in his short story.

  “You ran into a glass door,  _ that's  _ why you were all cut up?”

__ Shadow! That was private information-- you know what? Gimme my notebook back, you don’t deserve it!” Sonic flushed in embarrassment and hurriedly shuffled towards him, very much resembling a penguin all wrapped up in that sheet. He reached for it, but Shadow simply held it above his head and wheezed a chuckle as Sonic quickly gave up and complained that all his limbs were sore.

  Shadow's expression soured immediately, and he pulled the pad back down to draw something and show it to Sonic. A picture of a rabbit mobian's face with long floppy ears, and next to it a question mark.

  “Cream? Her arm's fractured, and she needed a few stitches on her stomach for that cut, but she’ll be fine. That rabbit's stronger than you think.” Sonic smiled sadly, but when Shadow's expression dimmed, he folded back his ears. “No, you can't.”

  He didn't even need to write, simply nodding and looking around. He was growing exhausted and hungry all over again, and he did  _ not _ want a repeat of what happened last night. And… something was missing.

  Shadow hastily scribbled something down, not bothering to stay around when he gave him the sheet. He was missing something, everything else could wait.

  “I can make you some oatmeal, I guess, but your bag is gonna have to wait--”

  Shadow turned to hiss, glaring pure hatred to the hedgehog for suggesting such a thing as  _ waiting _ to get his bag. Where even was it? When did he have it last.

  “His bag?” Knuckles questioned, watching Shadow quickly become distressed as he stuck his head out the window from before and look around. The door was clearly locked and blocked from the inside, and it would take a lot of time to get through. “He carried something?”

  “Yeah, it's like kinda a dusty blue bookbag. Everytime I saw him he had it with him. I didn't really notice until now, but eating is more important than that.” A tap on his arm made him look over, reading the question Tails offered. “He eats food?”

  Sonic looked to Shadow for an answer just to see the hedgehog halfway out the window and called out in shock. “The hell are you doing!?”

  “Bag!”

  “Maybe it has something important in it.” Knuckles suggested, not at all helping when Shadow realized that the window would not open further so he could climb out of it without falling into the bloody mess he made minute before.. “Why doesn't he go look for it? He'd be the safest one to go.”

  Sonic opened his mouth to protest, then stopped. We felt like Amy right now, when she was yelling at him to not go out again when he ‘forgot the bandages’. “Shadow,”

  The zombie turned around, hissing quietly in his zombie language, when Sonic waved for him to come back. “Go through the front door, I'll come with you.”

  Before Sonic could drop the cover around his shoulders, Tails pushed past and grunted to Shadow, volunteering to go with him.

  “...Hn?” Shadow tilted his head, fulling expecting the kit to back down given that he was holding a gun to his head the entire interaction last night, but Tails only pushed the few things away from the door and unlocked it, tossing the keys to Knuckles as he opened the door.

  Tails held it open, letting Shadow head out first, then followed suit to close it behind him.

  Knuckles sighed. “I was going to lock him out.”

  “I knew you were.”

  “Don't judge, that's a  _ zombie _ you're talking about. Do you know how many people we've lost to zombies?”

  “... Are you even trying to be supportive, trying to be my friend? Because you suck at it.” Sonic sighed. “Guilt tripping me over not being able to save someone doesn't exactly put me in a good mood, Knuckles.”

  The echidna backpedaled, setting the keys to the door on the hook rack next to it as Sonic went to sit on the couch and watch cartoon reruns. “I’m sorry-- I didn't mean it like that, I--”

  “Then why did you say it?” Sonic cut him off, pulling the cover over his head similar to a hood. “If you didn't mean it, then why did you say it?”

  Knuckles opened his mouth to protest, then paused. Was it Shadow that was making him so iffy recently?

  “I'm sorry…” He finally caved, sitting on the floor in front of the farthest edge of the couch. “I'm not really smart, I don't know why I say half the things I did. Hell, if I listened to Amy in the first place, I wouldn't have had Tails get stabbed, Cream with a broken arm, Amy stuck asleep, and especially wouldn't have you almost freeze to death listening to my dumbass plan.”

  Sonic didn't say anything, but even if he did Knuckles only continued. “I just want to keep you-- all of us safe, and I don't know how to. I went from being alone basically my entire life to taking care of a tribe without a designated leader, and I don't know how to cope, and I can't keep making mistakes like this. Not for anyone's health.”

  “Should we pick a leader, then?” Sonic finally spoke, yet was met with silence.

  Quietly, Knuckles shook his head. “I don't know why you're asking me, I can't make any good decisions.” he huddled into himself. “If you did, it wouldn't be me at all. I'm just muscles, and half the time I can't even do that right.”

  Before Sonic could reply, Knuckles stood and dragged his feet out to the hall, leaving the hedgehog to himself.

   He just wanted to be friends with everyone, why was this falling apart? First he couldn't comfort Cream, and now he couldn't comfort Knuckles.

   Sonic sniffled and rubbed tears from his eyes quietly, glad that he was alone this time.

   Knuckles balled his hands up into fists, pulling his ear away from the door to hurriedly walk away, all while chanting a mantra of "I'm an asshole, I made Sonic cry."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Knuckles has a crisis cbsjcnsjc


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: I am sad

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't think i'd ever think about how long this story was, but this is honestly a long run, sorry abt that

Shadow looked around in slight wonder, not to his surroundings at all, but in concern for his bag. He didn't care about any of the rations in it, just what he had in it from before he turned.

  Tails grunted and he looked up, spotting the kit… hovering above the gate with his arms outstretched. He was using his tails to keep upright, and while the sight was a bit concerning, he sighed and waved him off with a nod. The gate was no problem.

  With two large steps, Shadow buckled down, pressed into the earth, and leaped over the gate with ease. The landing wasn't exactly clean as he slightly stumbled, but he gave the kit a quick thumbs up and looked around again.

  Nothing was around, which was good

  Where would it even be? The only place he remembered was that damn store, or maybe his shelter, but other than that his brain was entirely blank. He rubbed his face with a sigh and waved to the kit to get his attention, pulling up his pad and marker.

  “I'm going to run ahead, will you be able to keep up?”

  Tails looked at him, scoffed, and brandished his namesakes in a challenge. Shadow smirked and tilted his head, if it was a challenge this kit wanted, then it was a challenge he would get.

  Shadow lowered into a running stance, staring straight ahead to the empty street. When was the last time he even ran for fun? His memory failed him, so it must have been well before all of this started. He tugged the pad close to his chest and focused.

  There was a tap on the ground, then another before he finally looked at the kit. He held up five fingers, then four, three, two…

  Shadow sprung up and raced forward, mind already working out the fastest route to his shelter. It was closer than the store, though on a side street, but he didn't want to backtrack in case it was there first.

  The empty buildings and cars sailed past in a blur of colours, and the only noise around him being the thudding of his shoes hitting the concrete and the flapping of the thin paper. This wasn't normal running speed. He glanced back to see the kit almost right behind him, tails propelling him forward to nearly match pace. He was only lagging behind just so he wouldn't get lost, but he still wanted to test him.

  Shadow pushed himself forward, feeling the edge of  _ something _ nagging at him. An energy he recognized but still knew nothing about, despite having used it multiple times by now.

  He looked back again, but this time Tails was struggling to keep up. When their eyes met, the kit rolled them and pushed forward again, at the same pace as him as if he wasn't struggling to begin with.

  Okay, fine. If he wanted to be stubborn, then be stubborn. He wasn't going to push himself anymore anyway, as they were there. At his shelter. Shadow skid to a sudden stop and looked up, only to be almost knocked over by Tails as he crashed into his back at top speed. He turned back in concern, seeing the kit laid out on his back, rubbing his jaw while groaning in pain. It was well muffled by his bandages, but he could still hear, and offered his hand to help the other up.

  Tails opened his eyes and sat up, looking at his offered hand for a few seconds before hesitantly taking it and letting himself get helped up. He expected… something, for some reason, but nothing happened. Shadow only quickly checked him over for anymore injuries, nodded when he didn't see any, and looked back at the building.

  It was hard to believe that a zombie would act so…  _ normal _ .

  “What is your name?” Tails suddenly read, and he shrugged a bit and wrote underneath the other's question. “Tails”

  Shadow pulled back, looked at it, then waved politely in a quick, proper greeting. When Tails finally yet awkwardly returned the greeting, he turned back to the building.

  Staring at the shelter still didn't ring any bells, so Shadow hurried to the door and forced it open. There was nothing in front of the place, and nothing in the living room. Tails followed in behind him, and after a pause, grunted to get the other's attention.

  “Did you use to live here?” he wrote, and Shadow shook his head and started writing.

  “No, I found this shelter shortly after your group moved into that motel. I could see you running.”

  Tails stared at the paper, claws digging into the sheet for a second. He wrote again. “Did you see what happened?”

  He must have been talking about that chao, Cheese. Shadow sighed and gave his answer. “No. I was scared of you all. I left as I saw you coming.”

  It wasn't much of a lie, but this wasn't the time for that. The longer he was away from his bag the more panicked he grew, and he had the nagging sensation that his bag wasn't here.

  Tails bumped his arm with the pad again and Shadow looked up from peeking under a cover laid on the dirty couch. There was a question at the top of the page, reading “Why”, but it was crossed out. Under it read “How did you turn?”

  That was… a different question. Come to think of it, he was never turned. He simply died and came back as a zombie.

  Shadow wrote, each word written slower than the last as he thought. That was never a question of his. He couldn't remember much of his past life, just about a month or two before his death, but he  _ did _ remember that he wasn't ever bit.

  “I wasn't turned. I wasn't bit. I bled to death in an old shed from getting attacked by a wolf, but none of my injuries were bites by zombies.”

  Tails grimaced and nodded, turning away as the zombie called it a loss and moved to the door to leave again. Shadow didn't turn? He'd have to be lying, the only zombies he'd seen had clearly been turned from a bite. He couldn't trust him, then, looking at that arm of his.

  Then again, that wound was way too big to be from any normal bite.

  “Come...ing?”

  The voice caught him off guard and Tails quickly looked around for it, just to see Shadow looking at him from the open doorway. He folded back his ears and followed quietly, watching Shadow look around once again.

  Then, he kneeled into a running position, and froze when he felt Tails grab onto his shoulder.

  “No run?” he asked, uncaring that his english was choppy now. It was better than pausing every few minutes to scrawl something down.

  Tails looked at him, grimacing, then sighed and pulled out his pad and paper.

  “I normally hold onto Sonic's arm or shoulder when he runs so.” The last word was crossed out, and Shadow shrugged and offered his hand. After a split second of thought, he switched to his left hand, the non-scarred one.

  A pause, and Tails grabbed his wrist instead and readied himself, other hand holding his only form of communication.

  Shadow suppressed the urge to shudder, feeling just weird in general. No one had touched him in almost half a year, just for Sonic to come around and now Tails? He could somewhat remember someone similar, from his previous group, but… the memory was just too hazy to piece together. Regardless, it didn't matter too much, he needed his bag. The only other possible place he could check would be that dreaded store, he was sick of the place now.

  As Shadow took off, his arm was pulled back almost painfully and he glanced at it to make sure it wasn't about to yanked out of its socket. It was just Tails, holding onto his wrist and propelling himself forward to take off some of the drag he was creating.

  He had to take another route, then. No way could he turn with extra weight on just one side, light or not. Shadow cut through an alley that lead to a street full of possibly empty apartments, but you could never be too sure. The streets were congested with cars abandoned so quickly that most of the doors were still open, and he was sure some still contained keys.

  It all thinned out the further he went, but it still wasn't comforting to see. Based off the way the kit was squeezing his wrist, he didn't like to assume what happened here either. With a small twist, Shadow lifted his arm to grab Tails’ wrist as well, knowing that he would entirely claim it was just for a better grip than comfort.

  There were more zombies now, but luckily all of them were too busy doing something else for him to care much. None of them paid the two any mind either, so it was a win-win. About five or so were attacking a car crashed into a pole, something recent he assumed as smoke still came from the hood, and another small group feasting on the body of an older… adult. It was too mangled to recognize properly.

  Tails grunted and tugged on his arm, and he was jerked backwards to a sudden stop, toppling over onto the sidewalk as the kit ran off towards the car and left him in the dust. Shadow groaned and sat up, sniffing the air some to confirm what he first thought. No time for this, the store was maybe just around the corner. He could go and be back in seconds, but then again… anything could happen in a few seconds.

  “Don't try!” He called, but the kit only gave a judging stare and continued on.

  Tails yanked a knife from a zombie’s skull and kicked it away, jumping over another and landing on the roof of the car. Four left, two on either side of the car. The window was broken on the passenger side and one zombie was halfway inside, clawing, snarling, and swiping at the survivor inside.

  If you could even call them that.

  Shadow huffed, torn in half. He didn't want Tails over there for a good reason, but the store was  _ right there _ and he could easily run in and get his bag. Easy. Easy. Easy.

  “ _ Fuck.”  _ Shadow hissed and stomped over to the zombies, glare deepening with each stomp. “ _ Hey. _ ”

  The language startled them, Tails looking over for a second as he kicked away a hand.

  “ _ I have things to do, and this fox is determined to help this mobian and refuses to let me continue on without them.” He snarled, hands balling into fists. “I don't care about you, any of you. I don't care if you starve, I don't care about anything. I don't sympathize. If that pisses you off, oh well. And if you filthy sacks of rotting corpses think you can change my mind? Feel free to  _ **_try me._ ** _ ” _

__ Shadow ended it with a growl, feral and wild, and the zombies paused. Tails took the time to open the back door and drag the mobian out, completely lost on whatever the other said.

  It was a teen boy, a raccoon, panicked and huffing with effort as he clutched his bloodied arm. It was everywhere, blood on his shirt, lap, soaking into whatever fur in the immediate area. Tails wiped the blood away to assess the damage and if they could save his arm, worst option having to amputate it.

  As he exposed the wounds, his heart dropped.

  Nothing but bites. The arm couldn't be saved anyway, too gorey, nothing but muscle and tissue exposed, but what cause his attention were the clear marks of teeth tearing out chunks of flesh.

  “I promise,” The raccoon sobbed, kicking his legs in pain as tears trailed down his face. “I promise, I promise, I won't turn. Just cut off my arm-- I won't turn-- I promise-- Help me-- save me!”

  Tails folded back his ears and looked away. They couldn't save him. He  _ would _ turn. Right now, he could easily stand. He wasn't being held down at all, and he wasn't crouched over him. The raccoon simply  _ couldn't _ stand. Tails stood and waved for the other to stand, and the raccoon yelled, tail thumping the floor as his claws dug into the asphalt.

  “You gotta help me! You gotta save me! You gotta! Help me!” he screamed now, blood dripping from his nose and mouth. He should have stood up by now. “I can't-- you…”

  Tails sucked in air sharply, backing up a step only for the other to grab his ankle, unfocused eyes boring into him.

  “You can't... leave me like this…” His grip tightened, but all he felt were metal braces. “You can't, you… you have to… save me…Please save me… please, please…”

  Shadow shoved past him, pushing the kit back with a bloodied hand and staring down at the other.

  He frowned. “ _ Can you hear me? _ ”

  The racoon smiled, pink-tinted teeth showing in a broken grin as drool dripped to the ground. “ _ Yes, I do. _ ”


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ooh! The story's progressing!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About the people concerned about my comment on 'I am sad', it was mostly as a joke to say that that chapter was a bit sad. Sorry for worrying you!

Tails stood by the door, triggering the only working automatic door every few seconds as he refused to move from the sensor. Shadow was deeper into the store, retrieving his bg probably, but he didn't want to think about him right now.

  That raccoon… they left him. He was alive, like Shadow, but they just… left. He kept trying to call for them, but Shadow wouldn't turn back and he wouldn't let his arm go. The rest of the zombies were dead, all destroyed by Shadow's hands, except for him.

  He had asked, when they got inside the building, why he just left.

  He was only told to calm down.

  Calm down?  _ Calm down? _ How the hell was he supposed to calm down when he just saw someone turn right before his eyes and was forced to  _ leave him there! _

  And what was even  _ taking _ Shadow so long!? All he had to do was find him bag, that's  _ all! _

  Just as he had enough and went to find him, Shadow came from around the corner of a shelf and greeted him sadly. He held a dusty blue school bag over his shoulder, not looking at all pleased that he found it. It slightly dampened the kit's anger, but it was still close to boiling.

  “What happened?” He wrote down, and Shadow took out his own pad and pen.

  After maybe a minute of purely staring, he showed it. “Nothing too concerning. We should get going.”

  It was as if Shadow read his mind, clearly upset over the fact that they  _ did _ leave the raccoon. He didn't continue after that, simply moving on to leave the store behind without the kit having taken a single look inside. He figured it was for the best judging by the smell alone, he was surprised Shadow could even go around without complaining about it.

  Tails fell into step behind him, unsure about the zombie anymore. He couldn't ever tell what he was thinking and it stressed him out. Wanting to forget about that raccoon for a second, he pulled out his pen and pad for the umpteenth time that day and asked “What was about your bag that you needed it so dearly?”

  Shadow looked at the question for no more than a second, waving his hand dismissively before clenching his hand into a tight fist.

  “Pri...vate.” He sighed, about to continue on when Tails jumped in front of him. He frowned and fixed Shadow with such a deep scowl, hands quickly raising to grip the sides of his head. Above his metal muzzle, silently excited that no matter how close he got, Shadow couldn't bite him like this.

  Clawed fingers painfully dug into his quills, pulling and twisting as if to pull them out. Tears welled up within the kit's eyes but this time he didn't care about them falling. It was his version of a yell, awkward, silent, simply just causing Shadow pain and watching for any reaction.

  Then, something was shoved in his face and Tails pulled his head back some to let his eyes focus. A picture frame.

  He pulled his hands down to hold it, but Shadow pulled it back and snarled. His hands were bloody, sure, but what was a little more blood on something?

  Then he noticed. The frame was spotless, no drops of blood on it whatsoever, no dirt, no smudges, and the photo inside hadn’t even been damaged by the light of day. Shadow even wasn't wearing gloves anymore, and his hands were washed. There was no way the picture could get marked.

  The picture itself was of Shadow awkwardly standing next to white bat dressed in purple workout gear wrapping her arm around his shoulder, a giant robot of some sort with an omega symbol on the shoulder, a green crocodile with large headphones on carrying a purple chameleon above his head that looked absolutely miserable to be held, and a small bee child still moving too fast to be properly caught by the camera, his legs and wings blurry still.

  He stared for a few seconds longer, then looked up to meet Shadow's eyes. He was looking away, eyes distant.

  As the zombie pulled the picture away, Tails saw a quick flash of something else in his bag, buried under piles of instant noodles. He figured it was not too important and hurriedly wrote something down and showed it to him.

  “Your last group?”

  “Only. My friends.” He answered, speaking this time. “Don't re-- member… names, but loved them… tried to save them. I don't know… if I did. Don't want to… forget them.”

  Tails paused, unsure of what to say at first. Then, he wrote again.

  “How do you feel about Sonic?”

  “Only person… that ac-- cepted me after… my death.” he looked at the ground, running his hand along the old fabric. He seemed to calm down, having it next to him, and soon he no longer looked as upset as he did before.

  His bag  _ was _ important, then. It had his group within, and when he lost it he probably felt like he was being horrible to them. The kit looked at his hands, gloves slowly turning pink from the loose quills still stuck in his hands. Shadow's head didn't seem to look all that well either, tiny droplets of blood forming where he was cut but not flowing down.

  He hurt him for no reason. He got so angry over the raccoon that he didn't stop to wonder why Shadow left; he was already tied up and confused on what to do, so when confronted with another problem he just… left.

  Even if it didn't seem like it, Shadow was very much alive.

  “...sorry.” Tails whispered, ignoring the painful sting in his jaw from moving his tongue to speak. He was, and he honestly felt bad for his tantrum seconds ago.

  Shadow finally turned around, nodding quietly as they began to leave. Then, he suddenly stopped and held out his hand, the right, and Tails expected that he was going to run again and grabbed on tightly. It didn't matter that there was a giant scar there, for some reason it just didn't bother him anymore.

  The world spun, twisted, exploded and compressed all at once before snapping back to normal, and the kit yanked himself away from him to collapse onto the floor and dry heave. The motion clawed at his jaw and caused his stitches to bleed underneath the medical tape, but he didn't care much about how he felt as he turned around.

  Shadow was laid on the floor, curled up on his side and either sleeping peacefully or absolutely knocked unconscious. It was very much the latter.

  A yell of two familiar voices made the kit look around once more, eyes widening in shock when he realized where he was. He was back at base, in the motel. He swore they didn't walk here! Not enough time had passed!

  Sonic and Knuckles rushed over, and Tails stared onwards as the two checked him over. He was asked about the bloody handprint on his chest, but he didn't answer. He wasn't injured there, that was zombie blood. He was asked about his hands, but one look at the type of wounds there gave Sonic his answer and he turned to Shadow.

  “What did you do--...?” His words died off, staring at the scars on the side of his head. He put two and two together and folded back his ears, remembering the thing Tails used to do when he got fed up with him before. “...Hey, how did you two even get in here? The door's locked, and we didn't hear you come in from the side.”

  Tails could only shrug, as he had no clue what happened either. Knuckles helped him up and gestured to the back table, where a plate of cold breakfast now sat. “Well, I guess we can ask Shadow when he wakes up. But for now I made you some pancakes.”

  The kit nodded as thanks and went to the table, Knuckles in tow as he started asking about their trip.

  Sonic took the opportunity to chuckle.

  “I knew you were tired and hungry.” He smiled fondly, standing to retrieve a worn pillow from the couch and tuck it under Shadow's head. Even though he was out for the count, he still shifted in his sleep to avoid being touched. “I just didn't expect you would pass out in the middle of the floor.”

  He paused, hand reaching out to push the quills out of the way of his new wound. Hopefully that would heal soon, it always hurt like a bitch whenever Tails did it to him. Luckily he stopped almost right away with him when he was confronted about it, but… something must have happened during their trip to make him so upset.

  Something came to mind and he tilted his head, looking at the cover he left laying on the floor when he sprung up from his seat at that flash of light the two created. That wasn't his, anyway. The cover apparently came from a storage closet, and Knuckles didn't even know it existed until he almost froze to death. Sonic smiled softly and stretched out to drag it back and laid it over the zombie.

  “G'night Shads, gonna make you some food when you wake up.”

  Maybe if he was awake, he would have thanked him, but Sonic paid no mind to it and went to join his friends at the table.

  Knuckles greeted him with an emotionless stare that hurriedly turned into a passive smile.

  “Hey,” Sonic greeted, sitting down heavily. “What'd I miss?”

   Tails had nearly filled his writing pad to the brim and slid it over so he could catch up. After a few seconds of reading, he slid it back. “Yeah, I remember him saying something about his previous group. He said he got hurt trying to protect them, and he doesn't know if they're still alive anymore. I'd love to help reunite--”

  “You ‘remember’? We just met him yesterday, how long were you two friends?” Knuckles cut in, and Sonic quickly wanted to take back everything, but he shook his head instead.

  “Remember when he patched up my arms? He told me then when I got super confused on why a zombie was helping me.” It wasn't an answer to his question, but it worked out! At least, Knuckles seemed to take the answer and dropped the question.

  “I still can't believe you ran into a glass door.”

  “I can.” Tails wrote, quickly adding. “I was around Sonic for most of my life and I can tell you that, for a fact, he ran face first into basically anything that could ever exist around him.”

  Sonic whined, pressing his face into his hands. “Gee Tails, am I  _ so _ glad we're friends.” He replied sarcastically, blush burning the tips of his ears as he recalled the many times he slammed face first into a telephone pole because it seemed to be a bit further than it actually was, or the times where what was behind him looked cooler than in front.

  Knuckles could be heard snickering as much as he tried to hide it, and when Sonic called him out he only laughed harder. Tails quietly giggled to himself, each laugh surprisingly not hurting his jaw.

  Sonic grinned without meaning to. “You're all so mean! That's it, we aren't friends anymore.” He couldn't even get through his exclamation without laughing, and figured to give up halfway through and joined in on the laughing. “And I know you're not talking, Tails! You always got caught in trees and I had to keep helping you down!”

  When was the last time they simply got to sit and laugh? It was nothing but serious, distant tension and terror, but now they were all laughing with each other about nothing in particular.

  It felt nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I also got a few questions/concerns about Shadow. To clarify:  
> Shadow did bleed out. The attack from the wolf is true, but not what killed him. It only sped up the process.  
> Shadow's version of talking in Zombie Speak sounds like the equivalent of a dog growling and barking at another dog. A few short sounds can be translated into full blown sentences, but to anyone else it just sounds like noises.  
> Shadow's bag contains many things! It's a never ending void inside  
> To clarify even further, no ships in this story.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for being a bit late, it was my birthday yesterday and i accidentally fell asleep on this chapter pfft.

Footsteps echoed the quiet hall, and Cream sighed as she looked at her arm. The fracture was high up, almost near her shoulder, and the only thing that could be offered was a partial handmade cast and a sling to prevent it from moving. Meaning, she couldn't protect herself. It was her right arm, the dominant one, and no way could she accurately swing a knife or even aim her gun let alone fire with  _ only _ her left hand. To put it short, she felt vulnerable, defenceless… worthless.

  Laughter caught her ears and she paused to listen to it. Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails, albeit his laugh was much quieter than normal. That was rare in the first place, she didn't remember the last time she had a true laugh other than when she was giddy over Cheese being turned back, for the short time he actually was, that is.

  She hurried her steps and rounded into the main area, smiling kindly at Sonic as he noticed her, then quickly stopped to look at the mass laying on the floor. Shadow?

  “Shadow?” She voiced her thoughts, walking over to him and kneeling. He was still breathing, which was a good sign, but his expression was off. He wasn't asleep, he was knocked out… and apparently had new scars on his head for some reason. “What happened to him?”

  Knuckles waved her over and she followed, taking a seat next to where Tails would be had he not been washing his hands. “Turns out he kinda teleported in here with Tails and passed out.” Knuckled shrugged, and Sonic cut in.

  “He'll be fine, he didn't hit his head or anything. I guess he used some sort of power to do it and overdid it.” He grabbed Tails’ notepad just as the kit sat back down to finally start on his pancakes, turning to the page that described what happened while they were out. “Tails even wrote an entire block about their day.”

  Cream scanned the page, attempting to distract herself from how hungry she was. It was as if Knuckles read her mind, or her stomach as it chose just that time to grumble, and got up to make more pancakes. “You mean that giant store with the broken door in front and the weird cardboard cutout of a blue cat?” She asked, earning an odd look from Tails as he took the notepad back.

  “The door was broken, but I didn't go in so I never saw anything about a cat.” he wrote, and she nodded dimly.

  “How's your arm, by the way? Does it hurt any?” Sonic asked, just as Knuckles made a series of noises that could only say that he burned himself.

  “It's fine, I suppose… it does hurt, but I'm more happy that you all are alive. Especially with Amy, it looks like she'll wake up soon!” Cream smiled then, a muffled cheer coming from behind her before Cheese popped out of her bag and pumped his fists.

  “Nice,” Knuckles finally set a large stack of pancakes down in the middle of the table, then placed Cream's own plate in front of her all while cradling his burned fingers. “And I see this little guy has recovered nicely.”

  “ _ Chao chao!”  _ He hopped into Creams lap, lifting his arms and opening his mouth as he too demanded pancakes. Luckily there was enough for them all, and Cream grabbed another for him.

  Tails giggled behind his mask as the conversation continued, but he wasn't too interested in joining back in. He was busy staring at Cheese and then Shadow, something bothering him about the situation.

  Ever since Cheese showed that he didn't see them as food anymore, and liked to be outside his cage as well as inside, they started treating him like, well,  _ Cheese _ again. But as soon as Shadow comes along, after apparently having built a friendship with Sonic and Cream already and saved them all from probably being killed or kidnapped, he was treated as merely a zombie that could talk.

  Other than Sonic and Cream, no one else had even attempted to touch him except for a dire reason. No one gave him anything to eat, he was chained up the first chance there was, and now he was sleeping on the  _ floor _ . There was nothing wrong with him! There was no way he could contaminate anything either, his mouth was covered up! The virus couldn't spread through skin contact, or else everyone would have been turned by now.

  Shadow was no threat. At least, not right now. He deserved at least  _ something _ for his troubles.

  Tails suddenly stood, gaining everyone's attention as Sonic asked where he was going. He gestured vaguely and moved over to the knocked out zombie, bending down push him over onto his back. Just as he began to push, Shadow’s eyes snapped open and he swiftly rolled over onto his knees and looked around in confusion. The cover slipped about his legs and he picked it up to stare at it.

  “How'd I get here?” He asked, and Tails frowned. He should have brought his notepad.

  Luckily, everyone had came to his rescue.

  “You teleported in here, dude.” Knuckles sighed, crossing his arms after handing Tails the notepad again. “And brought Tails with you, you passed out right after.”

  Shadow scrunched up his face, looking down. “...Didn't mean… to.”

  “Hey, at least your english is back!” Sonic smiled, then, his ears pricked up when he heard the sound of water boiling. “Be right back!”

  When he left, Cream suddenly came into view and Shadow smiled, letting go of the cover and moving to stand before his eyes landed on her arm.

  “What… hap-- pened?” He swore she wasn't injured before. Truth be told, he only remembered picking up Sonic and turning to her to ask where his bed was, but he wasn't paying attention to see if it had broken or not.

  “Long story,” She dodged awkwardly, chuckling as well. “But you did save me from worse, so--”

  Pain erupted from deep in Shadow's gut, tearing up his abdomen and out his mouth in a loud, agony rich howl echoed by the muzzle, and the zombie braced himself to the ground. Food. He forgot to eat, and he needed food now.

  “What the hell was that!?” Knuckles hissed, now standing further away, Cream and Tails hid behind him. Shadow only looked up with sad eyes. He didn't mean to scare them.

  “Hungry.” He repeated, now so they could understand him. “I'm so hungry…”

  “Wh...what do you eat?” Knuckles asked again, while Cream now turned away, having understood what Sonic was doing now.

  “Food, of course!” The blue hedgehog cut in, walking over with a bowl full of instant noodles. He gave it to Shadow just as he pulled his muzzle down to eat. Shadow essentially destroyed the noodles within seconds. “He's pretty much like us, he gotta eat normal food to stay normal, and if he starves for too long he goes all zombie-like.”

  It was enough of an explanation for them to mull over while Shadow drowned himself in the broth of his noodles, pulling the bowl from his mouth to sigh. “What Sonic said…” He trailed off, staring into his empty bowl. Still hungry. And… empty feeling.

  “Yep!”

  “How do  _ you _ know? Just how long have you two been friends now??” It seemed like he never got a true answer to his question, and he was quickly not going to get one again as Sonic excused himself to refill Shadow's bowl.

  Tails nudged the echidna with his notepad. “Why didn't you bring this up before?” the other read, and Shadow frowned.

  “Was too busy… looking for bag. Didn't care a-- about food…” He answered, taking his now second and last bowl while whispering ‘thanks’.

  “Technically,” Sonic started, calling back to the other's original question. “I don't remember if he ever told me, so I kinda guessed.”

  “Didn't--” He cut himself off with an exasperated sigh, seeing that he wasn't ever going to get a straight explanation from him and figured to give up before he stressed himself out. “Fine fine, keep your dumb zombie secrets, I'm gonna go clean up.”

  With that, Knuckles turned to leave, waving them off as he went to presumably take a shower. Sonic smiled fondly. “Bye Knux! Be careful.”

  Knuckles only nodded and closed the door a bit faster than anyone normally would.

  “Need something?”

  The words brought Shadow out of his small trance and he blinked, pulling back to actually read what was presented in front of him. Then, it quickly dawned that he was staring straight ahead at nothing, probably stressing everyone out.

  He was only thinking, that’s all. He really didn't remember the trip there, and if he did teleport he entirely didn't mean to. It was probably because he was so stressed that his body wanted to rest right away, but still. That meant any of his powerful attacks would be pretty much non existent until he had time to get more energy and properly rest up.

  “No, sorry.” He finally got himself to stand, making sure he had his bag with him, yet his legs continued shaking beneath him. He felt so weak, as if he had a fever. Could zombies get sick? “Just th-- think… ing. Tired.”

  Tails started writing again, but Cream beat him to it. “Oh, we have two more rooms upstairs no ones staying in, you can pick one to sleep in!”

  “I'd like that.” He grunted, but before he took a single step he turned to stare at Sonic. The other yawned, waving for him to continue on after them.

  “As long as you don't go to Amy's room or claim the office then you're fine.”

  That wasn’t exactly his issue, but if he said it was fine, then it was fine. Cream and Tails were already at the door and waiting for him to follow, so Shadow nodded, picking up his cover and dragging it with him.

  He didn't mean to join another group. Hell, he didn't  _ want _ to join another group. He just wanted to keep himself alive until there was a cure, and if not, die alone in the woods somewhere. None of this was planned. Why wasn't anyone fighting back against him staying there? Knuckles didn't like him, that was obvious enough. He had yet to actually meet Amy, but he was sure she'd hate him just as much as Knuckles did, if not more.

  “ _ Chao? _ ” the voice brought him back to the real world, paused a few steps away from a door that Tails was fiddling with. Apparently, the handle was stuck.

  Shadow grunted and finally paid attention to the chao now crawling atop his head and pulled him off. There was a certain way you held chaos, right? He didn't quite remember, and it irked him. Cheese made a small noise of distress as Shadow held him out at arms length, patting his head awkwardly as he clearly had no idea what he was doing. Cheese squealed loudly and waved his arms, finally getting Shadow to let go with a quick apology before the chao huffed and swatted at him.

  “ _ Ugh, I'm sorry, I don't remember how to pet Chao.”  _ Shadow hissed, sheepishly going over to door that Tails was now trying to bash open. Cream opened her arms for Cheese to fly into and smiled softly.

  “Have you never had a Chao before?”

  “...pos-- sibly. Don't remember… past.” he answered, grabbing the handle and twisting sharply. The lock broke within the wood, and he opened it smoothly. Luckily he would never have reason to lock the door anyway

   Tails stared at him in concern, backing away as Shadow entered the bare room with Cream in tow. Only a double bed, dresser he would never use, and a television. Wow.

   "Can you tell us all that you  _can_ remember?"


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, get ready

Shadow sat at his desk heavily, drinking a cup of coffee he barely managed to make earlier that day. The coffee maker was working fine, his mind wasn't. The last few missions to ‘gather information’ only ended up with him almost drowning in the ocean, getting dropped in magma while tied up, and getting too close to being fatally shot to not demand more pay.

  Don't get him wrong, he loved his job, but when his life was put on the line so many times that he hardly had enough time to sleep, _that's_ when it became an issue.

  He smelled a sweet perfume before the bat even rounded the corner, and he looked up to nod to her.

  “Hello, Rouge.” Shadow greeted, and Rouge hummed.

  “You sure look handsome this morning.” She tilted her head, leaning against the wall of his cubicle. “Too rough on you the last two days?”

  “Rough is an understatement.” He looked like garbage. He wasn't even sure if he brushed his quills this morning. “What did they do to you and Omega?”

  Rouge turned and sat in his second chair, stretching her arms above her head and attempting to do the same with her wings in such a cramped space. “The only thing we got was sore backs and a fried battery.”

  “Really?”

  “Well, almost. He just started overheating and we had to fly him back to base, but he's fine now. For me,” She pulled her glove down and off, exposing the inflamed skin on her palm from helping get Omega onto the helicopter. “Other than this burn and my back, I'm fine, really.”

  Shadow silently took her hand, rubbing his fingers over the burn while he opened up his email. She said nothing as he did, simply watching the screen as he checked his emails over and chugged his coffee.

  Some emails were about an office party, some from people wanting him to do something or another that they didn't want to do, some files he needed to check over, one very angry email about him not making enough coffee for everyone in the morning, and finally one from The Commander. It was rare he ever sent out emails, unless it was to send them on a mission or congratulate them on not dying during said mission.

  It was cryptid, as always, simply reading “Office in five.”

  “What'd you think it's about?” Rouge mumbled, disinterested but still somewhat intrigued. She pulled her hand away finally, flexing her now healed fingers in slight awe. It wasn't special, being healed by Shadow, but each time it happened she could help but be impressed.

  “Hopefully nothing.” He stood, ignoring the ‘in five’ part. If anything, it just was a time limit. “But I'll be back. Check in on the bumbling buffoons while I'm gone.”

  Rouge smirked and mock saluted him, snickering at his tired scoff. “Aye aye, Captain.”

  “Pfft.”

  The office only took a few minutes to get to anyway, but this time he didn't want to wait. Shadow hurried along the almost maze of connected cubicles and sighed in relief as he finally escaped, looking around to find the office door. No one was outside of it, and he didn't hear talking right away, so he went to it and knocked gently. A pause, then a muffled ‘enter.’

  “Commander,” Shadow greeted, looking up to the familiar two-toned eyes of the honey badger. The Commander grunted and folded his hands together on top of his desk, leaning back in his chair.

  “Shadow.” he gestured to the empty seat in front of him with a nod of his head. “Take a seat.”

  He was tempted to pick it up and leave, be quickly decided against that and sat normally. He crossed his arms out of habit, and the Commander frowned.

  “Care to ever brush those messy quills of yours?”

  “Care to not try to get killed for three days in a row?” Shadow shot back calmly, removing his gloves to lick his palms and smooth his quills down. The Commander looked away in slight disgust but mostly in suppressed ire.

  “You know that is never my intention.” The badger cleared his throat and finally lifted his hand, gesturing to the wall to his left. It had a few framed pictures of newspaper articles about Shadow and G.U.N, some Agent of the Month pictures of Shadow or Rouge, and lastly one exact picture of Shadow begrudgingly shaking the badger's hand, looking more or less on the brink of passing out from exhaustion.

  “You're my top agent, I never intend for you to ever perish. I only send you on more dangerous missions simply because I know you can handle it.”

  “And my team? You continuously break us up.” he entirely ignored the so called compliment, and the Commander pulled his hands back to the desk to now start writing something down.

  “Only because they can not always follow. I have no problem with Rouge or Omega; Team Dark is the only one I can depend on in dire situations.” he had yet to look up, and Shadow grew quiet.

  His team, sure. What about the detectives they called over so often that they were now part of GUN itself? They were close, enough to work fairly close to one another and go on the same missions, and while they were indeed called Team Chaotix, ‘Dark Chaos’ sounded like a cool name too.

  “You're to be participating in a mandatory meeting in 1000 hours sharp.” The Commander suddenly spoke up, startling Shadow out of his thoughts. He looked up at the clock. “You will be given information you can not and will not share to anyone, not even those that will be in the meeting with you. Do not tell anyone about this meeting nor where you are going. Failure to comply--”

   “Is termination, yes, I get it,” Shadow cut him off, much to the Commander’s sudden anger.

  “This is _not_ the time to take things lightly, _Project--”_

“I am not taking any part of this lightly, Commander. In fact, I am being perfectly reasonable in interrupting you.” He stood, not breaking eye contact from the fuming badger. “If you care to look at the clock, or your new sporty watch, you'd see that you have another meeting with another government official in exactly two minutes that you had me schedule for you.”

  As if to humour him, The Commander looked at the clock to realized that, yes, he _was_ running over into his second meeting. The compliment Shadow gave of his new watch was far from his mind as he ripped a sheet of paper from the notepad and handed it to him, shooing him out of the office.

  Just as Shadow left, he saw a blue jay escorted by dog guards walk up to the office, and he hurried to leave.

  Shadow looked at his paper, glancing it over. There were few words.

  “Urgent meeting. Participant(s): Shadow the Hedgehog

  Time: 10 sharp

  Bring: Nothing

  Meeting end: Unknown.”

  An urgent meeting. Nothing too special in his eyes, urgent meetings only revolved around immediate danger that could always be solved right away.

  What _did_ make him nervous was the fact that only _he_ was invited, not Rouge or Omega. The rest of his team was left to file paperwork or train newcomers, both things he couldn't stand doing for too long. Not like he was happy sitting in a room for a few hours straight listening to someone speak curtly the entire time, sometimes interrupted by a question that had already been answered.

  He sat down at his desk to see that Rouge had moved and left a note in her wake, reading for him to email her and that she appreciated him for healing her hand. There was a second note under the first, this one by Omega. His handwriting was still terrible, but it read simply ‘hello, good morning Shadow.’

  Shadow shook his head playfully and eyed his clock, watching the seconds tick by before he would get up and leave. He always came five minutes early, just in case.

  The familiar room was incredibly easy to forget. It was simply a large room going down into a slant, similar to the room a college lecture would likely take place. That description wasn't very far off, either, but the room could only seat fifteen people.

  As he walked in, there was a loud beep and he sighed, kicking off his shoes, stepped out, and walked back in again. The metal detector beeped once again, but he wasn't questioned by the wolf standing there. He simply waved him along, knowing about his rings.

  Shadow slid his shoes back on and hurried down the stairs to took his usual seat directly in the front, for many reasons. One, he didn't care about anyone else here that much to change seats now. Two, his hearing was already acute, so being further away only said that he could hear every single whisper, cough, sniffle, and any other bodily functions ever possible. And finally, three, he got to kick his legs up and lean back because there was nothing The Commander could do to tell him off. For some meetings, he flat out stood in the corner or laid his head on the desk. He always paid close attention and interacted whenever needed, it's that he never much cared for looking presentable if he already had enough on his plate.

  Mobians started filing in, beeps following in patternless intervals. First, Topaz, which was a surprise. Then again, it wasn't. The hare was great with communication so she was probably necessary. Then, a green fox, an orange lion, a purple bunny… all people he knew were high up on the GUN pyramid. Slowly, the room began to fill. Beeps from the detector went off every so often and some people began to look disheveled from hair pins being removed and uniform jackets or pants being held back from metal not having normally been there.

  No one spoke a word. It was deathly silent other than those damn beeps, and it was uncomfortable. A jackal came in, awkwardly looked at the two empty seats beside him, then decided against it and moved further back.

  After his ‘five minutes early’ mental timer went off, the Commander walked in. Behind him, the dog guards from before, and finally the blue jay.

  She took the seat furthest from him but still in the same row, hands folded on top of the table with her back straight and shoulders pulled back. The complete opposite of how Shadow was sitting.

  The Commander started speaking.

…

  Shadow was coughing heavily by now, unable to speak any longer. He missed many names, but he remembered the mobian that was there. That day was the only one he could remember pretty clearly, minus a few blocks of course.

  During the start, Tails quickly left to get Sonic and hopefully Knuckles, but only returned with the hedgehog. That wasn't much of a problem anyway, Knuckles probably wouldn't listen.

  Sonic handed him his now third refill of water, but the zombie turned it down.

  “As… much… as…” He huffed, but he was tapped. Shadow shook his head and waved his hand vaguely. That was way too much stress on his chest and throat, and there was only so much water a hedgehog could drink and only so much it could do.

  “No… more.” he pieced together instead, and Cream frowned.

  “...You can't continue?” She attempted at translating, making Shadow smile and nod.

  Tails handed him his notepad, presumably to write the rest of his story down, and Shadow took it. After a few seconds he gave it back and watched the kit's face light up just to dim once again, ears flattening in disappointment.

  The note read “Too tired to write, will continue next time.”

  Tails huffed and waved everyone else to leave, following suite with a miffed glare. Just as he started getting invested in the story, he just _had_ to get tired! The nerve.

  The zombie watched them go, the door closing behind them with a soft click. His eyes quickly trailed to the window where he frowned, thinking.

  The window was boarded up from what looked like both the inside and outside, and while he could easily tear the boards off with brute strength alone, he didn't have any of it at the time. He was entirely tapped, so, unfortunately, sleeping was his best option.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the break of your lifetime once March ends  
> Clarification, if needed: this chapter's begining is set in the past


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I spent longer on this than expected, but np! Hope you enjoy, and thank you all again for reading!

  Morning came as an unwanted surprise to Shadow as he sat up, hissing at the small beam of light that managed to slip through a crack in the boarded window. He meant to wake up early, way earlier, but based on the plate of breakfast sitting on the bedside table, (where he might add that the lamp used to sit, but now it sat on the floor to make room for his plate) it was far too late for _that_ plan.

  Well, at least he felt well rested for the first time in his death. And… he didn't feel as _empty_ as he did yesterday when he overdid it with that accidental chaos control. In fact, he felt somewhat energetic.

  Restless, really, similar to when he jumped over the fence that time it almost killed it. It gave a jolt of energy, small, but still there. This time it was tenfold, and he felt almost _giddy_ about it.

  He felt weight around his neck and pulled at it, figuring that it was his muzzle. Shadow paused, claws scratching the metal at that thought. ‘ _His_ muzzle’, so now he claimed something that he was supposed to be bound with? He couldn't take it off either, there was a lock on the back of it, five digits. He could guess if it he had the time to guess every combination known to man, but he couldn't feel the numbers and he couldn't turn the muzzle all the way around either.

  Whatever, he dismissed the thought hurriedly in favour of eating breakfast.

  It was eggs and toast, and surprisingly the eggs were perfectly cooked sunnyside up and the toast crunchy on the outside and soft inside. He happily ate, wasting no time in cleaning his plate, disposable with a plastic fork to boot, and standing to throw it away before noticing that his room did not have a garbage bin. How nice.

  He shook his head and folded his plate together, grabbing his bag with his other hand and pulling it over his shoulder. He'd have to go to the kitchen area to dump it, and while he had no problem doing so, he still had yet to feel… welcome.

  … he pulled the muzzle back over his mouth, too, just in case.

  Shadow sighed and left his-- _the_ room, passing the many doors in the hall before he came to the stairs. He could hear talking echoing up and through the stairway, but they were too mixed together to figure out who was speaking. He did recognize Sonic's loud voice, so he would have a friend there at least.

  The zombie stepped into the room and closed the door behind him, looking up to see _everyone_ there. Knuckles was sitting at one if the tables with an ice pack on his eye, Cream was on the floor with Cheese as they both ate separate bowls of cereal and shared a book, and Tails, Sonic, and who he assumed to be Amy despite never seeing her was on the other end of the table Knuckles sat at. Apparently he set someone off, causing that black eye.

  “Shads, the hedgehog of the hour! C'mon, you missed most of the action anyway.” Sonic called, lifting his hand to wave largely as if he had trouble seeing him.

  Shadow lowered his eyes with a playful scoff and nodded, going to approach had Amy not fixed him with a stare. He had noticed it before, a look of surprise, wonder, then as he turned to face Sonic, she got to see his arm and jagged stomach wound and realized just what he was, and now she glared at him in warning.

  “I would,” He called, now gaining Tails’ attention as he pulled his pen away from a book he was writing in. “But… I wouldn't feel… right.”

  Cream stood from the floor and went up to the zombie, smiling peacefully. “Goodmorning, Shadow. Did you sleep well?”

  Cheese waved at him from the floor and he politely waved back. “I… did, surpris-- ingly. Thanks for as--”

  Before he could continue, Cream surprised him with a heavy hug, and he couldn't help the small laugh that escaped. She was so short, she only came up to his chest!

  But then again, a different feeling came up. He… missed being hugged. It didn't help that her arm was still broken so she was forced to only use one, but it was nice to be held, even if it came from a kid. Shadow dropped his bag and hugged her back, his restlessness dying down somewhat by the time he pulled away. The hug only lasted maybe a handful of seconds at best, but now he felt much better about himself.

  Deeming himself ready to join the trouble makers and face the brute force of Amy's judging stare, Shadow turned and went to sit at the table, dragging his bag with him. Cream stared at him in awe as he left, mouth open to say something, but no words would come from her shocked expression.

  As he sat, the pink hedgehog visibly tensed up, and he could feel something very weapon-like brush past his leg under the table.

  A notepad was slammed in front of his face before he could start speaking, and he looked down to read what he already knew laid on the paper.

  “Don't waste your voice, continue the story.” it read, and he sighed. Perhaps, then, since Sonic also seemed interested and Knuckles was clearly going to be lost anyway.

  So, he continued, starting off almost exactly where he left off.

 

  The Commander had started to speak.

  “I will keep this meeting brief and informative. Any and all questions but be concise, as we are on a tight schedule and need recommendations A.S.A.P.” The badger barked, stepping aside as a map came up on the white screen. He pointed a long stick towards the side, drawing a red circle around three major cities. “Our best agents have all been called together to give our best opinion-- backed up with facts-- on how to deal with an outbreak of an unknown ‘disease’. Governor  Aryadita is here to monitor us.”

  He then pointed to the blue jay beside Shadow, and she stood up only to nod courtly and sit back down. Shadow exhaled sharply and pulled his feet from the top of the desk, deciding to pay closer attention this time. Those cities were large enough as it is, but they were directly in the middle of one of them. If it was a disease, then it'd have to be contained, meaning they could possibly be quarantined.

  “The solutions we were given so far are either;” He pulled a stylus from the baseboard and began writing. “Mass Execution of suspected infected individuals, or Mass Quarantine of infected areas.”

  “No evacuation?” Topaz asked from the back, and Shadow glanced back to see the hare tapping her claws on the desk. “Either killing or keeping everyone separated to do what, still kill them? What about _actually_ saving people?”

  “That is where we come in, Agent Topaz. We haven’t given our solution yet, but if you wish for an evacuation to be in order then we will keep that in mind.” You could see the suppressed anger in his eyes, but he luckily scanned the room for another voice just before he exploded. “And you, agent? What do you prepose?”

  A deer a few rows back grunted. “I want to know more before I say anything, sir.”

  “We… currently don't have the means to speak of more. There was an outbreak of a ‘disease’ of some sort that kills the host its harboured in, then causes the body to enter an… for lack of a better word, Zombie-esqu state. The disease can be spread via saliva and blood, but it had been found lying dormant in many test subjects.”

  “What do you mean by test subjects?” The words came out of his mouth faster than he wished, but he couldn't stop it. The Commander almost broke the stylus from how hard he slammed it on the white screen, crossing out a portion of the northbound city.

  “Citizens collected in order to locate the source of this ‘disease.’ A dissection concluded that the virus has always been found in the subject's brain, mainly found in farm workers, butchers, vets and doctors.”

  There was a certain still in the air as Shadow  took in the room, thinking to himself. This was serious. Dissection meant that those ‘test subjects’, i.e _innocent mobians_ were killed and cut open.

  Sure it was to determine a cause to this… virus, but there must have been a better way. There must have.

  “If this virus spreads, are there any symptoms to look out for, Commander?” Aryadita finally asked, breaking the silence of the room, and the badger nodded as he drew on the board more.

  “Yes, there is. There are seven main points to worry on, each increasing in warning. Shaking, excessive sweating and or drooling, constant hunger and thirst, unwanted or uncontrollable aggression, incoherence, usually in the form of repeating a phrase in a mantra, inability to use legs or any basic form of natural mobility, and finally sudden death.”

  After yet more talking, they finally decided on making their vote ‘Evacuation’. It was the most sound idea, and kept most people alive for longer until everything became settled.

  Once the meeting finally ended, Shadow stood on shaky legs, earning a few stares from some of those who still had yet to leave. It looked sketchy, but he only shook because he was afraid. He knew many people who would love to hear that there was going to be an evacuation, get them out first before they were drowned out by the sea of panicked people, but that was against his contract. He couldn't speak a word of what was happening.

  “Eyes sharp.”

  “Yes, ma’am!” He spoke automatically, then quickly turned to playfully glare at Rouge. She smirked and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, eyeing the blue jay as she left with her bodyguards.

  “Well _she_ looks like a total prude.” Rouge whispered as soon as she was out of eyeshot, and Shadow nodded.

  “She was. She sat next to me and smelled like rubbing alcohol and jasmine.”

  The two shared a laugh as she lead him to Omega, originally going to share a late lunch with the Chaotix, but the robot was currently dealing with a ferret trainee that seemed to have a few screws loose.

  “I cannot help you with that.” Omega chimed, but the ferret persisted.

  “You gotta tell me where the third level key is. You gotta. You gotta tell me where--” The ferret turned sharply, bearing his teeth for a second at Shadow before calming down just as fast as he grew upset. “Hello, agent! I started a few weeks ago, and this hunk of metal won't give me my third level key. Care to help a low rank?”

  Normally, he would have no problem pointing someone in the right direction when they were new, as the third and fourth levels were reserved for spies/detectives and scientists specifically, meaning he had no reason to need a key, but he was… off.

  Firstly, standing straight up or still was impossible for him, as he seemed to stumble when normally standing there, as if he was constantly being shoved around. Secondly, he was drinking a bottle of water, so either that or thick drool was dripping from his mouth so much that when he wiped it away it seemed to just come right back.

  “I can't give you a third floor key because you're a trainee, you don't get one yet. You start on the first and second floor and work your way up.” Shadow spoke instead, and the ferret suddenly glared, anger flairing.

  “You--” he hurriedly caught himself and awkwardly smiled, rubbing the back of his head “Are right! I totally forgot, I'm really sorry. I dunno why I've been getting so mad recently.”

  “You better work on that before you get yourself in some big trouble.” Rouge added courtly, pulling Shadow forward and waving for Omega to follow towards the break room. “Come on, guys, we still have to join our other half for lunch.”

 

  At this point, Shadow paused, looking at the table in heavy focus. He couldn’t recall the rest of the day; he _did_ remember that they did eat with the Chaotix, but the day drew too hazy to remember properly.

  “I don't remember… much else right now…” The zombie trailed off, earning _once again_ a look of disappointment from Tails, but at least this time he was more accepting of his answer.

  “That ferret, he was turning into a zombie?” Amy asked, her Piko Piko now harmlessly leaned against the table instead of held in her hand. Shadow nodded sadly. “And you didn't say anything?”

  “Couldn't. “ Shadow shrugged. “Confident-- cial. Even if I d...did, that would have been… suspicious. To go missing right after-- Such a important meeting.”

  “What happened to him? Did he hurt anyone, was he the one who killed you?” Sonic sounded more defensive than normal, and it was valid. To having worked next to someone who later kills you would be a low blow.

  “No. He stayed, people… grew weary, then he went… missing. Everyone uncomfort-- able, more people go zombie, I get scared, get my fr...friends, run. Don't look back.” he squinted and looked to sky, trying to think of more, but nothing was coming no matter how much he tried. “Don't remember who hurt me…”

  There was a tap to his side just as Knuckles started talking, so he addressed the tap first just to see Cream holding her arm out to him. The one that had still been broken just this morning.

  “You healed me.” She spoke, voice even but brimming with suppressed excitement. “You can _heal._ ”

  Tails’ eyes widened as he and Amy rushed to Cream, checking her arm for anything that could be messing with them. Nothing. Her arm was entirely fine, save for a faded yellow and blue bruise there from the initial impact.

  Knuckles sat forward, turning so Shadow was forced to face him. “You can still heal people? All this time, and you didn't say anything?”

  “Thought it died-- when I died?” he attempted to justify himself, looking just as confused and surprised as anyone else. Just like that teleport, he honestly _wasn't_ trying to do any of this! Did he not have full control over his powers anymore?

  If he didn't… then he had to leave _now_. He couldn't risk hurting them. Even if he could fend for himself if he did, he wouldn't want to.

  “Shadow?”

  He didn't want to hurt anyone else. If he did, he'd gladly die. It was just healing, but what if it was worse?

  “Shadow-- can you hear me? Are you okay?”

  What if he slaughtered Sonic? What if he blew up Tails? What if he burned Cream? What if--?

  His lungs screamed for air and his chest tensed in effort, eyes suddenly focusing again as he ripped the hands away from his nose and mouth. Shadow gasped heavily, leaned forward to huff and gather himself.

  Everyone was around him, looking at him in concern while Amy simply stood off to the side. The zombie frowned. When was the last time _that_ happened? It must have been way before he died, he didn't recall anything similar.

  “You okay now?” Knuckles asked, and Shadow shrugged.

  “Dunno…” he shook his head. “Yes...?”

  “What happened there, bud? We just asked you something and you flipped out.” Sonic pat his back, making him flinch each time. He couldn't feel more vulnerable than he did now, and he sourly thought about the muzzle. It laid on the floor, unlocked, and useless. “Are you not telling us something?”

  Tails handed him a glass of water, the very same one he was given from the moment he officially set foot in this motel, and Shadow shook his head. “I just...don’t want be… h--harmful.”

  It took him just now to realize that there were two pairs of arms hugging him, one set from Cream and the other from Cheese, and he hummed. How could these strangers trust him more than himself? This wasn't like him, not at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hm. Shadow panics.


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! I got super sick yesterday and could do much of anything. I feel much better now, so I'll be back on uploading soon!

  “So,” Amy began, gaining the attention of the zombie. He looked over his shoulder before turning, setting his glass back next to his plant. He figured he might as well call it his own, he was the only one watering it. “I wasn't told you were… like, _this.”_

  In response, Shadow only shrugged in mild confusion. “You don't seem… very upset by me…” he sighed, “I'm not… threat--tening… at least, not try...ing to be.”

  Amy sucked in air through her teeth, then attempted to play it off by coughing quietly into her elbow.

  “Is talking difficult for you?” She asked instead. The topic switch would normally be appreciated, as he didn't want to go through the entire ‘I didn't exactly ask to be like this either’ ordeal, but now he had to explain once again that, yes, speaking was _very_ difficult.

  He simply nodded without explaining further. Again, Amy deflated at the answer and looked around, as if searching for another question.

  “...So…” It seemed as if she was grasping at straws. He was tempted to tell her that he was very much fine being left alone than dealing with the constant subject jumping, but he saved her this time.

  “Your hammer…” he coughed, this time to cover his admiration. “Very large, dangerous… could take out… hordes…”

  The pink hedgehog summoned said weapon and held it forward gracefully, as if it weighed nothing at all, and smiled down at it. “You really think so? I haven’t exactly tried it out on a entire horde, but you could be onto something.”

  He offered a shy smile, unsure if she was enjoying the conversation or just dealing with him. “Yes. Is… heavy?”

  Amy bounced on her heels and held it forward, but there was a quick flash of uncertainty behind her eyes. “N-not for me, no. Did you wanna try…?” it felt like she was offering her prized possession to a small child, but as Shadow took her Piko Piko, he merely admired it carefully, turning it over in his hands and marvelling at its weight and design.

  “Did you make it?” the zombie looked up, proud of himself for managing a full sentence this time, but Amy seemed too engrossed in the question to think much of his format.

  A dangerous grin spread across her muzzle and he eyes lit up, a certain spark hidden behind them as she took her weapon back to brandish it. “Yes, I did.” She almost purred, “It's made out of love and rage, all compressed into what you see here, my dear Piko Piko!”

  Shadow felt afraid, but in a _good_ way. He tried to stop his goofy smile from forming, but was glad it was already hard to see behind his muzzle and hummed to hide his nervous laugh. He liked her already.

  Amy's own expression cracked and she dissolved into a fit of laughter, bent over to rest her hands on her knees. Her hammer disappeared in a small poof of smoke seconds before it hit the ground, and now the other wasn't sure if she was kidding anymore.

  His muzzle felt warmer for some reason, and that was not a feeling he liked at _all_ so he hurried to move onto a different area, perhaps where he could be left alone?

  No one was sitting on the couch, so he chose there. Tails and Knuckles were at the table discussing something or another, and Cream was berating Sonic about his habits of coming close to death after he explained that his ideal hiding spot was the freezer. What an odd bunch.

  But, hey, at least they seemed happier now. It felt like he had walked in on the bad end of a joke when he first met them all, but now they seemed to be getting along just fine.

  Then, there was a weight on the other side of the couch and Shadow sighed. He opened his eyes and uncurled, unsure when he had attempted to fall asleep. Was he even tired? He supposed not, his jittery feeling was probably caused by having an off day of sorts. He wasn't used to it.

  Tails waved politely, clutching his notepad sheepishly. He handed it to him and the Zombie read it. “So, how are you feeling? Are you hungry or tired?”

  He blinked, deciding not to answer the question and flipped forward in the notes much to Tails’ quick distress as he hurried to try to snatch it from him. Premade questions, all leading up to what he assumed would be another question that was more serious than the rest, but he didn't get to see the last one before Tails got his notepad back and ripped the pages out, tossing them over the arm of the couch as a deep blush lit up the tips of his ears.

  “Were you going to… ask me to heal you…?” He hissed quietly, and judging by the surprised and still uneasy look the other was giving him, he hit the nail on the head. “You could have just ask-- asked.”

  This time, Tails actually wrote something. “I figured it would be awkward and manipulative to exploit a power you didn't even know you still had.”

  He took the notepad and pen to respond properly. “It's not exploiting, I cannot heal myself. I used to be able to heal faster than normal, but I couldn't ever heal myself, just others. If anything, I would be wasting it if I didn't.” he paused, then added more at the bottom. “But you suppose faking interest to begin with wasn't awkward and manipulative?”

  Before Tails could write another reply, Sonic joined in to offer them some granola bars and a cup of yogurt each. “Heya Shad, sup Tails.”

  The two nodded back as a greeting and Sonic turned to Shadow specifically. “What happened between you and Amy? You just ran away as fast as possible and it was so hard not to laugh.”

  “Scared me.” The zombie admitted, feeling rather… embarrassed to say so. He's killed many under his palm, but a woman laughing while wielding a hammer she claimed was made out of love and rage strung him through too many emotions to want to stay around any longer.

  Sonic snorted and looked to his little brother now, the kit avoiding his eyes. “Wait, I know that look… were you pestering Shadow?”

  Tails nearly exploded, raising his arms in a muffled, nearly silent argument saying that he wasn't in the wrong and simply wanted to speak again, but to be frank the other didn’t care to listen.

  Tails felt a weird, prickling and warm sensation spread up his neck and across his jaw, and he quickly felt up around his jaw just to feel Shadow's gloved hand cupping the back of his neck. The zombie himself was staring straight ahead at the tv in front, the screen currently on a children's channel teaching about animals. The section about lions was on.

  It felt odd, to say the least. It wasn't a very comforting feeling, and he figured Shadow understood based off the fact that he refused to look in his direction, but when Shadow finally pulled away he stretched and yawned.

  “Will… scar. No hurt.” words seemed to be failing him, along with the strength to stay awake. He curled back up into himself, barely able to keep his eyes open. “Sleep now.”

  Tails’ eyes widened and he hurried to pull his mask off, then carefully peeled away gauze and medical tape until he came to where his stitches laid. They were still there, which was disturbing, but there wasn't a wound anymore. Simply raised skin in a jagged scar, and as he opened his mouth, found that no pain remained. He looked at the zombie and quietly smiled.

  “Thank you…” He whispered, turning back to Snic with a growing smile now. “I can _talk_ again. You know how important this is-- how important _Shadow_ is?”

  Sonic tilted his head, only heart heartedly listening as he watched the zombie. He was asleep again, which didn't make too much sense. He had _just_ woke up maybe two hours ago, there was no reason to sleep again. Unless all that healing tired him out? He'd has to ask later.

  “Yeah, probably.” He spoke, not having paid attention to the last half of whatever the kit said. “But how is your throat? That was a big cut, you know, it can't just _not_ hurt anymore.”

  Tails felt under his chin once more, still grinning in excitement. “Heh, yeah, it still hurt, but don't you _get_ it? Shadow can heal us. If we get hurt, he can _save us!_ ”

  Sonic's ears folded back but he nodded solemnly, trying to keep up an aura of calm as the kit had already made up his mind without asking anyone else. “Uh, sure, prolly,” He started to walk off towards Knuckles, waving behind him. “I'll think about it. If you need me I'll be over… here”

  By the end, Tails was attempting to shake Shadow awake. It wasn't working.

  Sonic sat down next to Knuckles, all but collapsing on the echidna in a huff. “Can we talk?”

  There was a sputtering sound as Knuckles dropped whatever he was doing, which looked like a puzzle of some sort, and smiled happily. “S-sure! What about?”

  “Do you think I make good decisions?”

  “Oh, of course you do! What makes you say that?” Knuckles pat Sonic's back reassuringly, and the hedgehog slumped more into the table.

  “...Nothing, really.” he sighed, crossing his arms to lay his head on them. “So… what's our next step?”

  It took a second for the other to get what he meant, but he shrugged and continued to pat Sonic's back. “Um, probably get a car or a truck, soup it up, and move to some farm out of the city probably. If you want to keep up your dream of taking in people, then we'd need a bigger place to do that.”

  “Mmh, yeah.” Sonic sat up. “Do you think there's ever gonna be a cure?”

  “What's with all these sudden questions?” Knuckles took up his puzzle again, feeling a bit worried now. “Are you having second thoughts? Why are you bringing this all up again now?”

  Sonic didn't answer at first, just staring off into the distance. He just felt weird, knowing that Shadow could heal wounds now. But he only healed two, one a fracture and the other a stab, and passed out with no signs of waking up soon. Was that the only reason they were going to keep him around, as just some faulty medkit and fighting machine? He felt sick just thinking about it. He turned around in his seat, facing out toward the rest of the room and scanned it over.

  His eyes landed on something green that hadn't been there before, he didn't think. A plant, well overgrown, sat on the windowsill. It was a vibrant green, stretching high while some heavier leaves drooped off to the sides. It seemed almost… _too_ green, if that made sense.

  “Sorry, Knux. I didn't mean to seem demanding, I'm just… a bit scared, you know? I'm always scared now, or worried. I don't know. Just worried, probably.”

  “It's alright to be worried, we all should be,” Knuckles hummed. “If you weren't worried, you wouldn't be thinking at all. Its okay to be scared, to worry, to want to cry… because you're alive, and you're in a bad situation-- hell, we _all_ are, but we'll stick together and help each other.”

  He sat back from his half-finished puzzle. “Deal?”

  Sonic nodded quietly, then turned back around to give the other a well needed hug. “Deal.”

  Knuckles smiled fondly and hugged him back, a bit hesitant to pull away but did so happily.

  “You think we should start on a car soon, or wait until everyone is fully healed to head out?”

  “We should wait,” Sonic turned to Amy in particular, who still seemed a bit off from the drugs in that dart. She was very much her normal self, but was still a bit loopy. “Amy's still got a few screws loose and Shadow's out for the count.”

  Knuckles perked up a bit. “Speaking of Shadow, I've been meaning to get a straight answer out of you. I don't want to be in the dark any longer. How long have you _actually_ known each other?”

  Sonic didn't answer at first, the sighed, resigning his fate. “For a bit, now. Maybe a month or two? We met a while back and I thought he was the previous owner because he was dressed up, so I gave him some food for the road. The night after that he came back, and I figured he was just a lone survivor and gave him more food. We kinda met on and off, not always for food, sometimes to just talk. When I crashed into that door and got all cut up, I woke up with my arms bandaged in this weird house that was all destroyed and Shadow was there. But, he wasn't in a disguise this time, and I figured out he was a zombie.”

  “It was just us meeting up, talking some, and that's it. I never said anything because he was just so… _different_ from other zombies that maybe he could tell us more about them, and he has! I just… feel wrong, using him, you know? It felt wrong keeping him a secret too…”

  Knuckles frowned. “I… don't like how you didn't tell us, but that sounds exactly like what you would normally do so I'm not upset.”

  By now, Shadow had woken up and was wandering aimlessly, dragging his feet around as if he was trying to get away from Tails. The kit was holding his arm and trying to pull him in a direction, but Shadow simply stopped, collapsed, and fell back asleep. “...Uh, I better handle that. Thank you for listening, Knux. I owe you one.”

  “Sure thing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This wasn't beta read at all, please bear with the mistakes


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Altar comes next. Thank you all for waiting and reading!

  It had been a few days since he'd healed Tails and Cream, where ths group mainly ate healthy, exercised, and rest until they were back in top shape. He ate along with them, much less though, and exercised much more than they would much to Knuckles’ constant challenges, so the group was ready to continue their plan.

  Tails had told them all about the little area full of cars he and Shadow had found before, so they made a group to head out for it. There was an unspoken rule that at least half the group had to stay behind protection wise, so the group stood at a stand still.

  “Tails is automatically going, since he knows where all the cars are.” Knuckles spoke up, only for Sonic to shrug.

  “If that's the case, so does Shadow.”

  “But I know what car we should take so we can get further and carry more stuff!” Tails cut in.

  “But your fighting still needs work, and we can't risk losing you.”

  “Plus we can't drive half of those cars here I’m pretty sure most of them have been siphoned for their gas by now. If we get a good car with no gas and no key, we might have to push it all the way back!”

  By now, Shadow had tuned them all out in favour of going to play with Cream. She was playing some game where a blue cartoon cat with a bright red nose laid on their back, legs and arms straight and holes cut into their body in seemingly random places. Odd-ended objects laid in those holes, and she was using a metal tool to carefully pull an object free. He sat down across from her, and Cheese flew over to sit on his head comfortably.

  “What are you play--ing?” he asked gently, and she gasped softly as an annoying buzz sounded.

  Then, Cream looked up with a soft giggle. “It's called Surgery. I don't really like it, but when you're playing by yourself you can't play a good board game…”

  Shadow grunted. “Cheese can't play?”

  “He can,” She smiled happily up at the chao, “But I need at least three players for the board game.”

  The zombie nodded, then took the tool from her hand and pushed the other toy away. It seemed annoying already, and he hadn't even played it.

  “Go get the game, I will play with you.” he stood, and Cream's smile grew wide as she rushed off for the other game, ‘Sweet Field’.

  Shadoe tapped Sonic's shoulder as he was in mid yell, making the hedgehog stop and stare at him.

  “What?”

  “Staying back with Cream.” He hissed, the turned back around and left without another word.

  There was a collective pause within the group before the group was silently picked, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy. Shadow, Sonic, and Cream were to stay behind and two out of the three had no complaints on that.

  As the group began to leave, Tails paused long enough to give Sonic a watch-like contraption and told him to wear it.

  Sonic’s ears fell flat as he sat down to join their game, where Cream was explaining the rules to Shadow. He was more or less still confused when he started, and after about half a round, it was obvious he still had  _ zero _ clue what he was doing. 

  “Why aren't you understanding?” Sonic asked, then quickly backpedaled as he realized that sounded rude. “I mean, what specifically is making it hard for you?”

  “Never… played.” He shrugged. “Or I don't re-- member playing…?”

  Cream giggled. “Don't worry, this was one of the first games I ever learned to play, you'll get it soon enough!”

  -

  Tails looked up at the afternoon sun with a glare, then turned to look back at Amy and Knuckles. This was taking way longer than when Shadow was there, possibly because they ran. It didn't help that there were way more zombies now, and with limited resources they were forced to hide more often than attack. It was tedious work.

  They were armed with few things; simple weapons, along with Knuckles’ bat and Amy's mysterious hammer, a gas can with a siphon, and a small communication system he managed to throw together while working on the fence. It connected to another communicator they gave to Sonic just in case they needed backup. Other than that, they were on their own.

  Tails narrowly escaped his ankle being swiped by a downed zombie and hurriedly stomped on the offending hand until it could move no longer.

  “You think it'll be this bad by the cars?” Amy asked, voice hushed as she crouched behind a dumpster with Knuckles. Tails leaned against the brick wall adjacent and ducked behind the half broken pallet he quickly set up. He heard a hissed gurgle bellowing beside him and he frowned, mouthing ‘I hope not,’ to the others.

  Then, Knuckles’ shoe slipped on the uneven gravel and there was a roar as a beastly mobian dashed around the corner and rushed him, eyes completely vacant from his face. Knuckles jumped to his feet and sent a punch before thinking of anything else, catching the bear off guard as his knuckles dug into the side of its head. They didn't go far enough, as the bear's claws latched onto his arm and it turned its head, blood flowing from the wounds freely.

  Knuckles kicked it in the stomach just as a hammer came into his view, and as it vanished, so did the bear’s head, rolling into the street as an unrecognizable mush.

  “Thanks,” he whispered, out of breath, as he shoved the beast's limp body off of him. The commotion didn't go unnoticed as many of the small crowds turned and rushed towards the noise.

  Tails took off, grabbing the echidna's wrists in a hurry as he flew up towards one of the rooftops. Amy grabbed onto Knuckles’ ankles and the kit pushed doubletime, getting the group up high before collapsing on the cement roof and panting from effort. Knuckles swiftly turned and grabbed's Amy's wrist, pulling her the rest of the way up the building as she clawed frantically

  “This is gonna take a while,” Tails admitted, wiping his forehead with the back of his dirtied glove. The fur stuck down for a few seconds. “We should call back to the motel and tell them we might be late.”

  “Good idea.” Amy waved vaguely, checking herself over from the rough landing. Other than scraping her knees from the fall, she was fine. “Knuckles and I will look for those cars from above.”

  Tails nodded as he fiddled with the communicator, silently hoping that they were still within range. The group had made it pretty far despite the slow progress, so any backtracking would be a waste of time empty handed.

  -

  Sonic nearly jumped out of his skin as static crackled out from his wrist, and he placed his cards face down to pull the cuff of his glove out the way. The watch's face has a picture of Tails on it, and as he looked closer, there was a clear space for him to talk into the receiver.

  “It’s Tails,” he announced to Cream and Shadow, both slightly peeved to have to pause the game but more worried about the call. Sonic answered. “Tails, you need help?”

  “Not… really. We're trapped on a roof right now, so I'm calling to say we will be late coming back.”

  Cream took Sonic's arm and spoke into the receiver. “Are you all alright?”

  “Yep! Other than a scrape and a few bruises, we're fine, thank you for asking.”

  Shadow took Sonic's wrist now, and the hedgehog mumbled something about how easily he could take the small contraption off. “Do you have a plan?” He choked out, staring at the watch with growing concern as he didn't get an answer right way.

  There was a pause so long that Cream had finally dropped her cards and shuffled closer. “Tails?”

  Then, the kit sighed. “Not really, no. We need to turn the corner and there's a four way intersection, so the buildings are too far apart to fly or glide to unless we go one at a time. The zombies here are more… ferocious than usual, and I don't want to run out of ammunition before we even get to the cars.”

  “Aren't there cars on the street you're at now?” Sonic pulled his arm back, giving a weak glare to Shadow that was more or less ignored. “You could use one of those and call it.”

  “There are cars, but most of them are entirely broken down, missing parts, or littered with bullets. We have to get to that other street.”

  The group paused, and Shadow stood. “I'll go.” he shrugged, and Cream stood up swiftly to grab his hand.

  “If you go, then I'll go too. I can fly, and--”

  Shadow pulled his hand free to gently place it on Cream’s head, shaking his head no. “You, Sonic, stay. I should have… gone in the first place…” he nodded to Sonic's wrist, where Tails was quietly whispering their names in concern, and turned to leave.

  “Don't leave.” Sonic spoke sterning, now standing in front of him. Wind brushed past them from how quickly he moved, but neither faltered. “We have a strict rule, half the group stays, half leaves. You're pride isn't worth getting hurt.”

  “ _ I don't want your friends hurt. _ ” Shadow stressed, pulling his muzzle down and tugging it out the way. “ _ I… I don't care that you can't understand me now, but…  _ I'm still go-- ing.”

  Sonic narrowed his eyes, ears folding back as his quills raised. “If you stay in this group, you follow the rules. We don't have many, and I respect you, Shadow, but I  _ do not  _ want to fight you over this.”

  There was a pause, and Shadow's ear turned back towards and odd sound and he turned. His heart, as slow beating as it was, felt ice cold at the sight of Cream hurrying to wipe away tears, slowly putting away the game.

  The zombie huffed and pulled his muzzle back on, stepping back on unsteady legs. He spoke, but it was difficult to understand and pointed vaguely to Sonic's wrist, and he raised it to his mouth to speak for him.

  “Hey, Tails,” Sonic started, looking back over to Cream as she now stared up at them, paused. “Sorry we went silent on you, bud.”

  “We were just  _ terrified _ ! Don't leave us like that. Is everything okay?” The kit waved Amy and Knuckles closer, making sure they could hear and respond to back him up on his paranoia. The groupbhad only been quiet for five minutes at best, but those were the longest five minutes Tails had to endure.

  Shadow grunted, opening his mouth to speak, but words escaped him. He tried to vaguely sign what he wanted to say, but he didn't know sign language enough to do so and felt utterly helpless.

  “We're fine, yeah. We'll leave you to your mission, and if anything starts to go wrong, keep us posted.”

  With that, Sonic and Tails exchanged quick “see you later"s and the hedgehog sat back in his spot at the game, picking up his hand again and making sure nothing had been changed.

  “You coming back?” He called, not once turning around.

  Shadow took a deep breath just to let it out in a slow hiss, clutching his arms tightly, so much so that blood tipped his claws. “ _ Why didn't you let me speak?”  _ he asked, knowing full well he couldn't be understood. He didn't care, either. Even if he went back to the game, he wouldn't be able to play because there was blood on his hands. He didn't want Cream to accidentally ingest it.

  “... We can start a new game without you if you’re going to growl to yourself in that corner all day.” Sonic called out again, already putting up Shadow's cards along with his own and Cream's to shuffle, the poor rabbit no longer wishing to play with either of them anyway.

  “ _ Go ahead, I fucking suck at it anyway.”  _ Shadow stormed off, restless energy buzzing through him. “ _ I’m going for a walk.” _

__ “You do that, then.” Sonic passed Cream her cards, but she didn't make a single move to touch them. When Sonic was finished counting, she pulled her knees to her chest and stared at the face down cards.

  “What? Are you mad at me too for telling him that he can't break the rules?”

  She didn't say anything, and Sonic gripped his cards, standing abruptly to throw them to the ground. “Fine! Y'all hate me for not making decisions, but as  _ soon _ as I say a single thing about following the rules  _ I'm _ the damn enemy!” 

  He stormed off to his room, racing up the stairs and dashing into his room so fast that the door slammed behind him at the force and bounced right back open, leaving him to close it again.

  Cream remained where she was sitting, Cheese trying to console her while brushing off the cards that fell against her form. The rabbit quietly sobbed into her knees, folding further into herself. Everytime. Every single time there was a slight dispute, everyone argued and yelled at each other.

  She didn't like being in the middle of it.

  “ _ Chao!”  _ Cream opened her eyes at the shout, looking over to the desperate chao as pulled at her hand. She looked down to see that she had grabbed her ear and was pulling at it rather roughly, and let it go with a sigh.

  “Sorry, Cheese.” She pushed herself to her feet, dragging herself to the stairs. “I'm going to take a nap… until the others come home. If you wake up before me, let me know?”

  She opened the door and shut it right behind her, securing the lock before turning around to the many piles she created. Nothing was dirty at all. In fact, other than the drawings she did to keep herself entertained when she couldn't stand to be around the others and the stack of her own clothes she pushed off to the side, her room was clean.

  When she first came here, she stripped every single closet and wardrobe she could find in the place and brough piles of old clothes, robes, and towels to her room and set them into forts. Forts that fslt like a warm, welcoming hug when she crawled into them, forts that reminded her of when her mother was around and would comfort her when she woke up in the dead of night, afraid of the dark or the ‘monsters under the bed.’

  There were never any monsters.

  As she crawled deeper into one of the piles, feeling the clothes collapse around her until she was sure no one would be able to get to her, Cream closed her eyes and attempted to sleep.

  Cheese flew towards the back of the room, finding the bed she had managed to hide amongst the piles, and uncovered his cage from underneath her book bag and crawled in. He closed the door behind him, but wasn't able to lock it himself so he let it swing back open a few centimeters and turned around to face the wall, going to sleep as well.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> :')

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to upload Altar but my file got messed up and i lost over half of the newest chapter, so that's great! :') i die

A few hours had passed, or maybe it only had been a few minutes, before Sonic sat up abruptly with a hiss of anger and stared straight ahead at his wall.

  Why was he feeling guilty? He hadn't even done anything wrong! He enforced the rules and that was it. He didn't even yell or make a fuss, and  _ now _ he was feeling bad? What for! It wasn't like him to be so upset over nothing.

  Not even a minute after the thought, Sonic found himself storming out of his room and over to Shadow's where he knocked but didn't get an answer. He knocked again, but just as his knuckles hit the wood a bit harder than before, the door creaked open and his mind flooded with negative thoughts.

  “Shadow?” Sonic whispered, opening the door wider to peek his head through. Nothing. The light was off and everything untouched. The only sign that Shadow had even been there was the sheets being bunched up, and… his bag laying on the side of the bed.

  Curiosity rose but he decided against snooping, now wasn't the time. Who knows? Shadow could have gone to the bathroom and could be back anytime soon. Hell, he could even be in the freezer.

  Wait. The freezer. Shadow was dead, and if his body got too cold…

  Sonic turned and sprinted for the stairs, grabbing the railing and vaulting down to the first floor. He stumbled on his landing but continued on, grasping for the still partially destroyed freezer door and slamming his full weight into it. After another shove, he belatedly remembered he needed the code and punched it in without a second thought.

  Just as the door swung open, there was movement out the corner of his eye and he paused, turning to see what it was.

  Shadow, coming in from outside. His fur was damp and stuck down against his skin, but otherwise nothing looked different. He was more clean, he supposed. Awkward eye contact aside, Shadow pushed his muzzle back into place over his face and sighed.

  “Oh, uh… took a shower?”

  Shadow briskly nodded and continued on his way.

  “Wait,” Sonic started, but Shadow didn't stop. “Wait!”

  “Don't bother.” Shadow hissed. “Just dead.”

  Sonic opened his mouth, a bit stumped on the last part, but Shadow waved him off and yet again continued to his room had Sonic not jumped in front of him.

  “Hey, I'm trying to make this right you know! I was super rude and--”

  He would have continued, and Shadow wasn't going to stop him anytime soon, but it was something about the zombie that was… different. Off. His eyes were bloodshot, and his overall posture slumped and hands shaking. Sonic grabbed his shoulders. “Are you okay?”

  Finally, Shadow shook his head. “No.”

  “What's wrong?”

  “Worried.”

  Sonic moved out of the way and took a few steps towards the stairs, and slowly Shadow followed. “About what?”

  “Lost before.” Shadow scratched harshly at his side, picking at the side of his scar. He could easily open a new one if he kept it up. “Could have done--... helped, if went too.”

  “Do you wanna take a rest first? Everything you're saying is really choppy, and I think you're too upset to really tell me much…” His voice bounced off the empty halls as Shadow shook his head again, pausing at his door for only a second before sitting on the bed.

  “I remember-- if I rest I forget. Charmy--” The zombie grabbed his bag and dug through it, pulling out his picture frame to hold it up to Sonic and point at the bee next to the crocodile. “Name is-- was Charmy. Was a kid, wanted candy. Saw in store, kept bringing it up when we were heading for bunker. It was clear, told him he could get it if he was fast.”

  Shadow pulled the picture back to his chest and stared down at it, claws picking at the frame. He didn’t even need to finish for Sonic to understand.

  “Oh, I'm-- I'm sorry, Shadow. I didn't think you would be that worried about… about Tails and them.” He paused, rubbing his back comfortingly. The question on the tip of his tongue but he refused to ask it. “I'm… not sure why I didn't…”

  Luckily, Shadow answered it anyway. “Turned. Had to… kill him. Buried by the bunker.”

  “...Do you remember where that is?” he didn't want to think about having to see a child be turned into a zombie. He didn't want to think about seeing a mangled child charging at anything that moved. He didn't want to think about having to kill that child with your own hands and burying them. Yet, all those thoughts came flooding in and he couldn't stop them.

  Shadow stopped talking then, dawning a confused and then irritated expression, before sighing and carefully putting the photo away. “No.”

  “What prompted you into remembering that much? Was it the entire situation, or--”

  “You.” Shadow spat. “You pissed me off, made-- feel helpless. Couldn't help. Couldn't be use--ful.” he coughed then, heavy and thick. His head swam and he turned away to pull his muzzle off.

  Sonic sucked in a deep breath and ignored everything Shadow said, instead rubbing his shaking back in an attempt at comforting him. “Are you hungry, thirsty? I know all that crying probably dehydrated you--”

  “Didn't cry!” Shadow howled, whipping around to glare, but it was weak and full of stress. Sonic rolled his eyes.

  “If you say so, bud. Be back in a sec.”

  That he did do, speeding off in a puff of now airborne dust that has settled anywhere it could unbothered, and returning possibly a minute later with a glass of water. His same glass. He might as well write his damn name on it in sharpie. Shadow took it anyway without a word and drank it all in a few gulps.

  “Better?”

  “Mmh.” The zombie shrugged. “Check Cream?”

  It took him a second to understand that Shadow was in fact  _ not _ asking for cream in his water and was asking about the rabbit herself, and he frowned. “Uh, no-- I actually should do that  _ right now.” _

  Sonic sprang up and dashed down the hall, pushing Cream's door before remembering that she still had a working lock and knocked harsher than he wished to.

  “Cream?” he couldn't remember if she had gotten her knife back. “Cream, please tell me you didn't do anything.”

  He felt a warmth behind him but didn't turn back, now tapping his foot in turn with each knock on the door. “Cream? Cheese? Please, Cream. Please. Please answer-- I don't want to break down the door,  _ please.” _

__ “Cream?” Shadow called, voice deep and rasped, carrying over Sonic's knocking. He grabbed the hedgehog's wrist to stop him and listened for an answer, but was met with none.

  Sonic’s breath came out in a shudder, seconds away from tearing up.

  Then Shadow did something odd. He went to the small crack between the door and the doorframe, and sniffed. He did it for a few seconds, paused, the placed his ear to the crack and smirked.

  “She's alive.” he pulled back.

  “How do you know?”

  “Zombies smell sur-- vivors... better than zombies smell zombies.” he rolled his eyes a bit with a shrug. “She's alive, just ig--noring you.”

  “ _ Ignoring me! _ ? I didn't do-- actually, no, that's fair.” the sudden change in tone was so abrupt it caused Shadow to laugh, a few times and rather quietly, but it was there. Sonic's body seemed a bit warmer at the pleasant sound but he decided to not think about that.

  “Uh, actually, I remembered something.” He set his hand on Shadow's shoulder, ignoring the rather puzzled look the zombie gave him. “I should apologize.”

  “Mmh.”

  “I'm serious.”

  Shadow pushed Sonic's hand off and held it gently, but his face spoke otherwise. He stared at him with an expression that spoke of no emotions, and slowly, he let his hand drop. He spoke in a quiet whisper, close so he could be heard. Sonic realized a bit too late that Shadow didn't have his muzzle on. “Thank you, but I don't wish to hear it.”

  With that, the zombie stepped back, as if he was going to leave for his room again, when there was a hiss of static coming from Sonic's communicator.

  “Hey, you gonna open the damn gate or what? We've been outside for ages!” Knuckles shouted into the receiver, and Sonic chuckled as he hurried downstairs.

  “You could have hopped the fence and turned the alarm off inside!”

  “We're tired, we don't wanna have to jump another goddamn thing! You know what we had to go through over there? There was a damn raccoon zombie that was just like Shadow, but the guy just wouldn't stop crying and couldn't even speak english. He barely had an arm and it looked like he was looking for someone. We had to do some real sad stuff to even get this damn car, but it's big, we have the keys, and it even came with a camper trailer.”

  Sonic shuddered as he ran into the office, not liking the feel of the place as he slammed his free hand on the button to shut off the gate. They had five minutes before it cut back on. “What? Did you find all that or did you steal it from someone?”

  “Nah, we got it from the raccoon dude. He showed us his ID, but all we got was that his name started with ‘Ry’. He lead us to his house down the street and in his garage where apparently he… he had a family or something and went camping a lot.”

  “Oh.” by now, Sonic had pulled the gate open while Tails drove the car inside. The camper trailer looked pretty big, actually, as as it rounded the corner to go around the east of the building, Knuckles started speaking up again.

  “He let us have it. He just… he wanted us to take him out for it. He didn't want to fight, he just didn't want to live like that anymore. I don't blame hi. Wish we could have understand him, you know…? Shit's sad, Sonic.”

  Sonic swallowed thickly. “Yeah… it is.” he closed the gate just as there was a metallic whirr of the chaos energy staring up again, but he ignored it, looking over and into one of the windows of the first floor. Shadow stood with his head tilted in curiosity, then turned suddenly at possibly a sound and hurried away from the window.

  There was a click of the call ending, and Sonic dropped his arm and sighed. “Shit's sad.”

  He quietly rounded the corner instead of taking the long way through the building, where he met up with the rest of his group. Cream had come down with Cheese on her shoulder, listening to Tails talk about something involving the camper. 

  As he went to pass, he ruffled Tails’ head fur and caused him to stop talking and whine about his hair being messed up while Cream giggled at his dismay.

  Amy and Knuckles were talking to Shadow about something he couldn't hear, but as he drew closer, he caught the tail end. They were asking if anything happened and and if he was alright babysitting the two, but Shadow merely laughed them off.

  Sonic pulled on a smile and wrapped his arm around the zombie, earning a playfully annoyed groan.

  Well, not everything was going so bad, he supposed. Soon they could be out of this damn motel and back on the road, who knows who could be next after that last attack from all those girls?

  And with the store now being empty with them having no need to go back anytime soon, there was no telling how long before another survivor finds the place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're slowly coming to a close of the second section, and eventually we're be on to the 3rd!


	28. Chapter 28

Knuckles squeezed the water from his dreads as he turned the hose off, then stopped and shook himself a dry as he could in the stale air. Maybe it was due to his time spent alone with nothing but nature as his friend, or maybe it was because of the lack of survivors they've come across, but he knew  _ something _ wrong was going to happen soon. He frowned and hurried inside, giving the sky a quick look before the door shut. It was early morning, but it was already too dark. Much too dark for his liking.

   As soon as he made his way to the living room, he was greeted by Shadow sleeping face down on the couch while Cream sat on his back, eating a bowl of cereal and watching cartoon reruns. Cheese was on the carpet in front of the tv, facing Cream while mimicking the movements the characters made. They had seen it so many times Knuckles was sure they'd be able to recite every word with the tv muted.

   "Morning," He greeted, earning a small wave from the chao and rabbit. Shadow opened an eye and grunted quietly, but didn't say anything other than that. "Anyone else awake?"

   "Tails is. He's been working on the camper with Sonic almost all night." Cream answered, giving her now empty bowl to Cheese as he flew away and put it in the sink.

   "Amy is… put--ting together a map in the off--fice." Shadow added, turning his head to speak clearly. His muzzle was secure, so that was a bit of a relief. "So, no break--fast."

   Knuckles tensed, hurrying into the kitchen, past Cheese now washing out Cream's bowl, and searched for those instant noodles Shadow had gotten. "Did you eat?"

   No answer. Knuckles turned to the zombie and found him crawling out from under Cream, stretching as if he had no care in the world.

_ Did you eat?" _ He repeated, and Shadow turned to him, frowning.

   "No. Don't… have to eat every day."

   "I didn't ask if you need to eat every day," Knuckles gave up on looking for the noodles, figuring Shadow had the rest of the packets somewhere else and settled for pouring him a bowl of cereal with boxed 1% milk. He stormed over to the zombie and nearly shoved it into his chest, where Shadow grabbed the bowl and gave Knuckles a look of concern.

   The echidna merely stood back, watching as Shadow passed a hand over his scarred chest, then look back at the bowl and fold back his ears. He pulled his muzzle down and lifted his head, pouring the cereal down into his mouth without stopping until it was all gone, then he handed the bowl back and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Knuckles grunted.

   "Why on  _ Mobius _ did you eat it that way?" He scowled, only for Shadow to roll his eyes, adjusting his muzzle back in place.

   "Wasn't hun--gry and had no spoon."

   He turned to the door the second he finished speaking and Knuckles followed his gaze, only for Sonic to come in a second later with Tails and Amy in tow.

   "Truck's all good!" Sonic yawned, offering a tired smile and 'good morning' to them all, along with bumping Shadow's side as he passed by in a more personal greeting. "Well, it's clean and looks like it can run."

   Tails greeted Cream with a hug and gave Knuckles a fist bump. "It runs on diesel and luckily I know how to make more if we need it,  _ and _ the trailer has two bunk beds and a lot of storage space! Amy was thinking about checking out a library and finding a bunch of books about survival."

   "Ooh, can we look for some gardening books too?" Cream cut in, running up to Amy to give her a sudden, strong hug. Amy smiled at her and shrugged.

   "Sure will, but why so? You haven't been interested in gardening… ever, really, you liked flowers more, right?"

   Cream pointed to Shadow, the zombie moved off to talk to Sonic but now looking over when he was singled out. "I wanted to know because Shadow plans on planting a garden, and I want to help."

   "You? A garden?" Sonic asked, voice barely above a whisper, and the zombie huffed.

   "Sustain--able resources." He spoke, tuning out everyone else as they started talking more about their plans. He wasn't very interested. "It was my orig--... original plan before… I joined you."

   Sonic crossed his arms atop the counter and laid his head on them, still looking up at Shadow. He was so used to him now, and even though he held an air of someone not afraid to hurt or get hurt, he had such a caring heart. "...to grow a garden?"

   He shook his head. "To hide out… in the woods alone, grow a garden for my--self, so I wouldn't hurt… anyone again, until I died-- or until a cure… was made." He nodded once. "I once would have ra--thered be alone than hurt some--one I cared for."

   Pressure on his hand made him pause and look down, finding Sonic holding his hand. When he looked back up, Sonic was making direct eye contact.

   "What an awfully lonely but noble plan." He started, now using both hands to hold Shadow's, determination clear on his face. "It won't ever get to that. I won't allow it. I care for you, Shads-- I care for all of us, all of my friends, and I know in your still beating heart that you do too, so let's do this together. Got me?"

   He smiled at the end, a genuine, kind smile carrying such confidence and hope. Shadow's free hand shook as he placed it on top of their joined ones.

   "Yes, I do."

   Shadow's eyes closed out of respect and he bowed his head, silently taking in the words. He didn't expect to hear a motivating speech this morning, in fact he pretty much guessed he would remain asleep for the entire day so he would cause as little trouble as possible, but nevertheless he was grateful for it.

   Sonic's hands felt so warm. So… active. They felt as hot as the hedgehog's own burning passion, and Shadow's quills flexed in unknown anticipation.

   He felt good. Shadow felt  _ good _ .

   He wanted to live. He wanted to live so he could help those he could. He had hope still bouncing around within him somewhere, but it was alive and strong, and that's what he would cling to.

   He let go quietly and Sonic watched as Shadow stood up to go talk to Tails, where the kit hurried off to possibly show him the truck or something similar.

   Shadow looked different. As he sat there, across from him, Sonic had watched as Shadow bowed his head and his body began to  _ heal _ . He no longer looked as exhausted, and the gashes that he once caused by tearing into Shadow's shoulder, thinking he was a threat, were entirely healed over and left grey scars in its wake.

   They were only subtle changes, but they were there.

   A clap on the back made him cough and turn to see Knuckles, the echidna giving him a soft look before messing up his quills.

   "We're finally about to head out, we're thinking of packing today and leaving first thing in the morning." He then turned, nodding off towards the door. "He's coming with us, right?"

   "Honestly-- all while I was talking, I forgot to ask if he was even coming with us, I just assumed he was!" Sonic groaned, standing up just for Knuckles to gently push him back into the chair and hold up his free hand.

   "Don't worry about it, I'll ask. Get some sleep, alright? You can start packing when you wake up, I've already asked Amy if she could make lunch today." He winked. "See, we aren't just a lost cause."

   Sonic chuckled as Knuckles head off, waving to Cream, Cheese, and Amy just as he left.

   As the door closed, Knuckles paused to listen for speaking, hoping it would be easiest to find them that way. The plan didn't exactly work, as the only speaking he heard was coming from right behind him still, but he figured there was only one other place the kit would take Shadow.

   He trailed down the hall and stopped at the basement door, pushing it open with some effort. It was already heavy to begin with, but after years of rust it's only gotten heavier. Just as the door swung open, there was a yelp, a crash, and the deep voice of Shadow yelling something.

   Knuckles rushed down just in time to see Tails look back at him, Shadow holding onto the kit's arm as red dripped down it into a puddle on the floor. In less than a second, he bounded across the dark basement's floor and raised his fist, punching Shadow directly in the temple and knocking him to the ground.

   Tails cried out in shock and yanked Knuckles back, shining a flashlight in his face. "What the fuck did you do that for!?" He snarled, and Knuckles pushed him back a step and grabbed his arm.

   "He hurt you?? Why the hell are you yelling at me, I saved your damn life! You were bleeding and he was holding you still!"

_ "WHAT _ ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!" Tails raised his 'bloody' arm, shining the flashlight against it to show that said 'blood' was a pink pickling solution, and what laid on the ground at his feet were pickled pigs feet. "He wasn't about to eat me! I asked him to open this crate because I noticed it in the back of the van and didn't know if it was dangerous or not, and when he did I found these jars! I didn't know what was in them, so when I out the flashlight on it, I saw that there was  _ animal feet _ in there and freaked out and dropped it! Shadow was just trying to not let me grab the glass to clean it up!!"

   Knuckles looked to Shadow, the zombie laid in a half sitting up position. His eyes were hazy and unfocused, staring at them both, before they rolled back and he passed out. "O-oh…" he stuttered, and Tails yanked his hand free.

   "I get being protective and cautious, but why was your first thought to  _ punch _ ?" He walked over to Shadow and held the flashlight with a tail, feeling for Shadow's pulse. After a second, it pulsed once and he relaxed. "Even if he  _ was _ going to hurt me, he had a muzzle on, I still had my blade with me, and I could have easily flown away."

   Knuckles raised his hands. "Look, I wasn't thinking, okay?" He looked at Shadow, still out cold on the floor, then at the pile of pickled pigs' feet. The scent of vinegar hit him like a sack of bricks, and he was shocked that he didn't smell it earlier. "I'm sorry, I just--"

   Tails' glare and flicking of his namesakes only seemed to show that his apology was awful, and Knuckles looked away. "I'm… I'm really sorry."

   Tails sighed, and just then Shadow's ears twitched and he groaned, pushing himself onto his knees and looking around in a daze.

_ What happened to me?" _ He asked Tails, but when the kit looked at him in confusion, he frowned. "You… oh--..."

   Words got caught up in his throat and he coughed, stopping altogether to just gesture that he was going to leave and standing up. His hand shot up to his temple and held it gingerly, giving Knuckles a wide berth as he passed. Tails followed a second later, leaving the echidna by himself.

   Well, he wasn't totally alone. He had pickled pigs' feet beside him, apparently an entire crate of them. Too bad he hated the smell and taste of vinegar, along with never having wished to eat pigs' feet in his entire life. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for being patient!


End file.
